Banks can now quickly access ITR status of PAN holders

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Sep 03, 2020: If you don’t file your income tax returns and you withdraw large amounts of cash, this news is likely to be of concern to you. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said on Wednesday that it has launched a functionality last month through which scheduled commercial banks can quickly check the income tax returns filing status of permanent account number (PAN) holders. The Income Tax Department has taken this step to keep an eye on large cash withdrawals, especially by individuals who have not filed their tax returns. The CBDT said in a statement that the data on cash withdrawal indicated that huge amount of cash is being withdrawn by people who have never filed income-tax returns.

 

“The Department has now released a new functionality “ITR Filing Compliance Check” which will be available to Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) to check the IT Return filing status of PANs in bulk mode,” the CBDT said in the statement, adding, “The Principal Director General of Income-tax (Systems) has notified the procedure and format for providing notified information to the Scheduled Commercial Banks”. The CBDT also said that “Scheduled Commercial Banks are required to document and implement appropriate information security policies and procedures with clearly defined roles and responsibilities to ensure security of information”. The department advised banks to obtain return filing status from the portal ‘report.insight.gov.in’, Mint reported Wednesday. Through this functionality, bank/post office can get the applicable rate of TDS under section 194N of the Income-tax Act, 1961, by entering the PAN of the person who is withdrawing cash, the CBDT said in a statement as reported by news agency Press Trust of India Wednesday.

The latest announcement is a part of a series of recent steps taken by the government and the Income Tax Department to keep track of large cash withdrawals by those not filing their tax returns and to control the flow of black money in the country. Earlier, the government had announced that effective from July 1, 2020, any cash withdrawal over Rs. 25 lakh by a non-filer would attract Tax Deducted at Source (TDS). It then announced that cash withdrawals above Rs. 1 crore by non-filers would attract a higher 5% TDS.

courtesy:Yahoo