The Income Tax department in India took to the strategy of 'naming and shaming' of some large tax defaulters as it published names of 18 entities who owe over Rs 5 billion tax to the exchequer. "The step is aimed to publicize and put these names in public domain so that the common man can come forward to help the department in knowing the whereabouts of these. The step is to enhance public awareness against these entities who are acting against law. These names were put up the department's website earlier," a senior I-T officer said.
Goldsukh Trade India Limited, tax arrears Rs 750.47 million and Blue Information Technology Limited, Ahmedabad -based company, top the list with tax arrears of Rs 750.11 million. Newspapers carried the names of the tax defaulters and the data published was quoted to have been published by the Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (Administration) based in New Delhi.
Adopting an aggressive approach, government had for the first time gone public with names of 18 tax defaulters, including Goldsukh Trade and Somani Cements which, according to I-T, have turned wilful defaulters.
In a bid to force these entities paying their dues, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had asked the I-T department to post on its website, few days back, the names of 18 defaulters, of whom 11 are based in Gujarat. "Defaulters are advised to pay tax arrears immediately," said the notice.
"This is the first time the department has put in public domain a list of those wilful tax defaulters who have a tax liability of Rs 100 million and above," a senior tax official had said, adding that in many cases the assessees were not "traceable".
"The department, in the public notice, has provided the PAN number and the last known address of these defaulters for the public to know," the official added.
