(FE)
The Income Tax Department has received responses from 8.38 lakh persons out of the 18 lakh SMS/email queries it had sent to 17.92 lakh people for suspicious deposits post demonetisation. “More than 12 lakh responses have been received from 8.38 lakh distinct PANs/persons which are under verification,” Minister of State for Finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
The tax profiles of 17.92 lakh people were “not in line” with the cash deposits made by them during the 50-day demonetisation period.Under the Operation Clean Money launched on January 31, the I-T department sought online response on source of cash deposited by these persons.
The government had on November 8, 2016, demonetised 500 and 1,000 rupee notes and asked holders of such currencies to deposit them in bank accounts by December 30. “In case explanation of source of cash is found justified, the verification is closed. The verification is also closed if the cash deposit is declared under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana,” Gangwar said.
