Taxman 'names and shames' 24 more defaulters who collectively owe Rs 490 crore

Over the past few years, the Income Tax department has stepped-up its name-and-share policy for tax defaulters. Till yesterday, the naughty list of individuals and entities with unpaid dues of over Rs 1 crore boasted 96-odd names. But it has just gotten a lot longer with the taxman releasing 24 more names.

These 24 defaulters collectively owe about Rs 490 crore in taxes to the exchequer and have either gone non-traceable or have reported inadequate assets for recovery. And they hail from all parts of the country, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Vijaywada, Nashik, Surat, Delhi, Vadodara, Kolkata and other cities. Besides, no business sector seems to be immune - the defaulting firms operated in sectors ranging from food processing and breweries to real estate, and from software to bullion trading.

The department issued an advertisement in the leading national dailies, titled 'List of defaulters of Income Tax and Corporate Tax', advising the named defaulters to pay their tax arrears immediately. Issued by a nodal office of the Principal Director General of Income Tax in Delhi, the notice carries the identity of the individual/firm, their Permanent Account Number (PAN) or the Tax Deduction Account Number (TAN), the name of their directors and partners, their last-known address and business profile, the amount of tax defaulted, the applicable assessment year(s) and other vital details.

To remind you, in 2016, the Income Tax department had decided to widen its name-and-shame net by significantly lowering the default threshold to Rs 1 crore. The earlier exercise was restricted to individuals and corporates with far-bigger defaults to the tune of about Rs 20-30 crore. According to officials, the aim of the exercise is to inform the public about such tax evaders-turned-fugitives, who have successfully escaped the taxman despite all the means at its disposal.

The biggest defaulter on today's list is reportedly Stock Guru India Ltd, with tax liabilities of over Rs 86 crore for the assessment years 2009-10 and 2010-11. Actually, that is a pittance compared to the scam pulled off by this Delhi-based partnership firm formed by Lokeshwar Dev and his wife Priyanka Saraswat Dev several years ago. The couple had used several aliases to fraudulently raise more than Rs 1,500 crore through sale of preference shares of a company named SGI Research & Analysis Ltd. A Sebi probe into the case had found that the fraudsters had tricked the investors into putting in their money with a promise of 18 per cent dividend, although the real assured dividend was just 0.12 per cent.

Another major defaulter on the list is Kolkata-based Arjun Sonkar, with unpaid taxes of over Rs 51 crore, who is "not traceable" now. The city is also home to the next big-ticket tax evader on the list, Kishan Sharma, who boast a tax default of Rs 47.52 crore. Shockingly, some of the defaulters on the list have not paid their taxes for as far back as assessment year 1989-90.

Last January, speaking at a session at the World Economic Forum, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant had credited this name-and-shame policy for some states showing significant improvement in terms of ease of doing business.

With PTI inputs