Is MPs paying their Income Tax?

New Delhi: The Finance Ministry has initiated a process of cross checking the income tax files of politicians between the IT department and the affidavits filed by them with the Election Commission during the 2009 parliamentary polls. Verification of the assets declared by the Lok Sabha candidates, many of whom have now become MPs and even Ministers, will help the department to assess if they had paid appropriate taxes as declared in their statements with the two different authorities, according to Economic Times.

The Finance Ministry has started this close examination when it found out that many politicians have made astounding declaration in their affidavits to the Election commission and some had paid paltry or no taxes at all. As many as 50 percent of the candidates in the 2009 LS polls had not furnished their Permanent Account Number (PAN), making it difficult for the department to ascertain the actual income of these people. Not having a PAN or not disclosing it for the purpose of evading tax could invite both scrutiny as well as penalty and prosecution in cases were evasion is proved. Although the penalty for not having PAN is just Rs. 10,000, for tax evasion it could be as stiff as between 100-300 percent of the tax evaded.

A letter from the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has been circulated to all those MPs whose records are not available with the IT department or whose PAN has not matched with the department's records. Sources said that IT department has asked the candidates to submit their last two years' income tax returns as well as those of their dependents whose names were mentioned in affidavits filed with the EC.

The letter said, "A verification exercise is being carried out by the I-T department, ministry of finance, in respect of affidavits filled by you at the time of filing nomination for the general elections 2009."

For fear of being disqualified if statements made in the affidavits were to be found untrue when elected, candidates had made some astounding declarations. One candidate declared assets worth more than Rs. 600 crore, while those having assets between Rs. 100 crore and Rs. 200 crore were found in dozens during the 2009 polls.

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