Meticulous and diligent tax payers waiting for refunds at the end of the financial year would be shocked at this: money meant for refunds is suspected to have been diverted to some fake accounts and the authorities have initiated a police probe into the racket.
As many as 10 complaints have been filed by the tax authorities with the Delhi Police against some data-entry operators who are suspected to have diverted the money meant for refunds last year, a government official said on condition of anonymity.
The FIRs, filed with the Indraprastha Estate Police Station, near the headquarters of the Income-Tax Department, Delhi, named the operators hired by the department for processing returns in the capital.
In the last financial year, refunds of Rs 41,419 crore (Rs 414.19 billion) were issued, while in the previous year those totalled Rs 40,701 crore (Rs 407.01 billion).
In Delhi alone, in 2008-09 refunds of Rs 9,459 crore (Rs 94.59 billion) were given against Rs 7,673 crore (Rs 76.73 billion) in 2007-08.
When contacted, a spokesperson of the Central Board of Direct Taxes told PTI that these instances would not affect the refunds and asserted that the computer systems of the Income-Tax department have not been hacked by outsiders.
The CBDT spokesperson, however, declined to give details of the amount involved in the cheating or the number of persons adversely affected by this.
While officials maintained the modus operandi of those involved would be known after the police probe, sources said the data-entry operators diverted funds through cheques meant for I-T refunds in August last year.
Taxmen had themselves given these operators their user IDs and passwords, and the system was not hacked.
Sources said the appointment of these operators cannot be avoided as there is dearth of staff for doing this work.
The sanctioned number of tax assistants in the Delhi I-T department is 1,017 but only 886 are working at present, they added.
The sanctioned number for stenographers, at the level where people are mostly hired as data-entry operators, is 262, while only 20 are working right now, sources said.
But in Delhi the refund banker scheme is operational, so there is not a problem with refunds, sources added.
As per the refund banker scheme, the country's largest lender State Bank of India processes the refunds, sent by the Income-Tax department, and sends the refund intimation to the taxpayer.
All taxpayers, excluding corporate and a few others, are covered under the scheme. The scheme is in operation in some more cities like Patna, Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata.
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