In 2016, PM Modi told us that he has banned ₹ 500 and ₹ 1000 notes to hurt the black money market. And every Indian’s first reaction was that of pride, followed by frantically finding ways to exchange old money & waiting for hours to get the new notes. However, all that effort came to nothing as RBI reported that 99% of the banned notes had returned.
So, the process has started all over again with the Income Tax Department at the helm. Now, I know that the name of the IT Dept. strikes fear in the hearts of even the most noble citizens but I assure you, this time it won’t. Because this time, they’ll be rewarding you with money instead of taking it away from you.
According to News18, if anyone informs the Central Board of Direct Taxes about any kind of black money or assets, then they stand a chance to receive rewards of up to ₹ 5 crore.
This interactive process comes under the Government’s Income Tax Informants Rewards Scheme 2018, that came into effect from 24th April, 2018. Apart from rewarding citizens with up to ₹ 5 crore for reporting about black money, the scheme promises to give higher amounts of money if they’re undisclosed foreign assets.
Additionally, officials have reported that the reward will be divided into two parts, interim and final. Both of them will be handed over to the reporter if their info leads to a tax discovery. You can also take away this money if you’re able to track down specific and credible information on tax evasion and illegal transactions.
This is certainly a huge upgrade from the previous limit of ₹ 1 lakh to ₹ 15 lakh. However, Income Tax officials are cautiously optimistic about this increased incentive. A tax investigator said,
“Informants will not come forward to provide information on properties worth several crores when the incentive is so meagre and the process so complicated.”
The government had released a report back in January that there are over 900 cases of properties that fall under the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act. So, the place where you all can focus on are plots of land, flats, shops, jewelry, vehicles and insane deposits in bank accounts.
It’s within our DNA that we love to do our job when we get some benefits in return. And in today’s times, since money can buy almost anything, it’s the best incentive. Now, although this revised method shows that demonetisation was a failed attempt, it also shows that the Govt. is not crying over spilled milk and are using India’s population to attack corruption.