I-T Dept makes names of big tax defaulters public

Sanjeev Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 31

In what may become a deterrent to big ticket tax evasion, the Income Tax Department today, for the first time, issued advertisements of some defaulters who owe Rs 500 crore in income and corporate tax to the government.

This is part of the I-T Department strategy of naming and shaming tax defaulters whose whereabouts are not known and the government does not have adequate assets to dispose them and recover the dues.

The advertisements in leading newspapers include names of 18 not so well-known entities, who owe over Rs 500 crore in taxes and are mostly based in Gujarat.

This is similar to the moves initiated by public sector banks for some time now to publish the names of loan defaulters through advertisements.

Some newspapers today 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 the national capital.

Adopting an aggressive approach, the 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 Department, have turned wilful defaulters.

In a bid to force them pay their dues, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had asked the I-T department to post on its website, few days ago, the names of 18 defaulters, of whom 11 are based in Gujarat.

“Defaulters are advised to pay tax arrears immediately,” said the notice. The department, in the public notice, has provided the PAN number and the last known address of these defaulters to create awareness among the public.

The companies in the list include Somani Cement with tax arrears of Rs 27.47 crore, Blue Information Technology (Rs 75.11 cr), Appletech Solutions (Rs 27.07 cr), Jupiter Business (Rs 21.31 cr) and Hirak Biotech (Rs 18.54 cr).

The other Gujarat-based companies which figured in the defaulters list include Icon Bio Pharma & Healthcare Ltd (Rs 17.69 cr), Banyan & Berry Alloys (Rs 17.48 cr), Laxminarayan T Thakkar (Rs 12.49 cr), Virag Dyeing & Printing (Rs 18.57 cr), Poonam Industries (Rs 15.84 cr) and Kunvar Ajay Food (Rs 15 cr).

Besides, names of Jaipur-based Goldsukh Trade India (Rs 75.47 cr), Kolkata-based Victor Credit & Construction (Rs 13.81 cr), Mumbai-based Noble Merchandise (Rs 11.93 cr) are also there in the list.

The list also includes the legal heir of Pune-based GK Dharne involving a tax default of Rs 38.31 crore.