Banks Will Report Accounts to Income Tax Department who have Not Filed their IT Returns

The Income Tax (I-T) department on September 2 said it has launched a functionality for scheduled commercial banks to check status of income tax returns filed by entities based on their Permanent Account Number (PAN). The I-T department has already provided a functionality ‘Verification of applicability u/s 194N’ for banks and post offices since July 1, 2020. The Income Tax department has already provided a functionality ‘Verification of applicability u/s 194N’ for banks and post offices since July 1, 2020.

Through a notification on August 31, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) included “scheduled commercial banks” in the list of agencies with which tax authorities can share information. Through this functionality, bank/post office can get the applicable rate of TDS under section 194N of the Income-tax Act, 1961 by entering the PAN of the person who is withdrawing cash, the CBDT said in a statement.

“The Department has now released a new functionality ‘ITR Filing Compliance Check’ which will be available to Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) to check the IT Return filing status of PANs in bulk mode,” the CBDT said. The tax department said SCBs can automate and integrate the process with the bank’s core banking solution. “Scheduled Commercial Banks are required to document and implement appropriate information security policies and procedures with clearly defined roles and responsibilities to ensure security of information,” the CBDT added.

It said the data on cash withdrawal had indicated that a huge amount of cash is being withdrawn by persons who have never filed income tax returns. To ensure filing of return by these persons and to keep track on cash withdrawals by non-filers, and to curb black money, the Finance Act, 2020 with effect from July 1, 2020, further amended I-T Act, 1961, to lower the threshold of cash withdrawal to Rs 20 lakh for the applicability of TDS for non-filers. It also mandated TDS at a higher rate of 5 per cent on cash withdrawal exceeding Rs 1 crore by non-filers.