Rs 110-crore I-T Scam Involving Hyd Techies

The Income-Tax department uncovered a Rs 110-crore scam by the Hyderabad IT professionals of 36 companies.

The IT professionals emerged as ‘top donors’ for registered unrecognized political parties (RUPPs).

The I-T sleuths were surprised to witness the newfound love of the techies for political parties. However, they found that it to be a fraud for financial gain, taking advantage of the Section 80GGC of the Income Tax Act, which permits deductions for contributions to political parties.

Exploiting the provision, the IT professionals claimed tax refunds claiming to have made political donations, which they never did.

The I-T sleuths grew suspicious after many of the IT employees used a common email address, filing fraudulent returns. The deducted amount was then falsely claimed as tax-deductible donation.

The sleuths found one case wherein an IT employee drawing a salary of Rs 46 lakh claimed of donating Rs 45 lakh to a political party. The political parties accepted the donations through cheques or bank transfer and then returned the amount to the donor in cash, after deducting a specific amount as commission.

The RU political parties involved in the scheme were traced to be from Gujarat, Telangana, and other states. Interestingly, some political parties which received donations from the IT professionals never contested an election or even submitted their contribution reports to the ECI.

Following the scam, the department now plans to verify tax returns of fiscal years 2021-22 to 2023-24 and direct the taxpayers to withdraw false claims. Notices will be issued to all those employees asking them the validity in their refund claims.

The I-T officials are planning to send SMSes and email alerts to the techies who claimed deductions, and ask them to reassess their tax filings. The techies who made false claims should file an updated return (ITR-U) before March 31, 2025. Else, the officials are planning to impose 200% penalty.

As many as 430 employees of an IT firm claimed deductions amounting to Rs 17.8 crore under the Section 80GGC, which means each employee received a refund of Rs 4.2 lakh, on an average.