I-T department sleuths bust tax refund scam, accountant nabbed

The directors general of income tax, Karnataka and Goa, have busted an income tax refund scam in Bengaluru by apprehending a city-based chartered accountant for abetting tax evasion.

However, the sleuths haven't disclosed the suspect's name.

The suspect would file revised returns of salaried employees by making false/inflated claims of loss from house property. Later, he would process claims for the refunds fraudulently.

The investigation has revealed that he has so far filed nearly 1,000 returns, resulting in the loss of Rs 18 crore, a press release from income tax officials said.

How it came to light

Some salaried persons in Bengaluru were questioned in their offices simultaneously.

It came to light that the staffers from reputed firms like IBM, Vodafone, Saplabs, Biocon, Infosys, ICICI Bank, CISCO and Thomson Reuters India Limited had also applied for a fraudulent claim of refunds by filing revised returns of their individual income. Acting on a tip-off, the sleuths on Wednesday traced the suspect to Bengaluru.

During interrogation, it was revealed that he was instrumental in filing false returns and making fraudulent claims.

The salaried employees confessed that they did not have any real loss under the head "income from the house property".

They claimed that the suspect had promised he could get them refunds by making some claims.

He charged 10 % as incidental charges out of the refunds the applicants received.

The employees produced some WhatsApp content shared with the auditor.

The details of persons, who filed the revised returns claiming bogus house property loss, have been seized.

However, the suspect claimed that the revised returns were filed at the insistence of his clients.

Appropriate action would be initiated against the suspect and those who claimed wrong refunds under the provisions of Income Tax Act, the release stated.