Penalty/Prosecution for Filing Revised Returns to Declare Unaccounted Income!

Post demonetization, people started revising their returns for the A.Y. 2015-16 and A.Y. 2016-17 by increasing their income so that they can deposit their unaccounted cash into their bank accounts.

To deal with this, the Finance Ministry released a statement which said, “It is hereby clarified that the provision to file a revised return of income has been stipulated for revising any omission or wrong statement made in the original return and not to make changes in the income initially declared so as to drastically alter the form, substance and quantum of the earlier disclosed income”

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the policy making body of the income tax department, further said if the department notices any manipulation in income in the previous year�s ITR (income tax return), it will conduct scrutiny.

�It is brought to the notice of taxpayers that any instance coming to the notice of the Income Tax Department, which reflects manipulation in the amount of income, cash in hand and profits etc., and fudging of accounts may necessitate scrutiny of such cases so as to ascertain the correct income for the year. It may also attract penalty/prosecution in appropriate cases as per the law,� said the ministry statement.