465-surveys-detected-income-worth-30-444-cr-in-fy25-i-t-dept

Acting on any credible information of ‘direct tax evasion’ coming their way, officials of the Income Tax department undertook at least 465 surveys in the fiscal year of 2024-25 that led to detection of undisclosed income of ₹30,444 crore, stated the Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary, in the Parliament on Tuesday.

The total number of firms searched during FY25 stood at 1,437 and assets seized stood at ₹2,504 crore, the minister further said.

Additionally, in FY24 and FY23, 737 and 1,245 surveys were conducted by the I-T department and undisclosed income of ₹37,622 crore and 9,805 crore, respectively, were detected.

 

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In FY24 alone, there were 1,166 groups searched, leading to total asset seizure of ₹2,555 crore. In FY23, ₹1,766 crore assets were seized following searches in 1,437 groups.

The I-T department has also tightened its hold on earnings through cryptocurrency, Chaudhary said.

In FY’23 and FY’24, as much as ₹705 crore in taxes was paid for income from Virtual Digital Assets (VDA) transactions, while ₹630 crore worth of undisclosed income was detected by the I-T department during search and survey operations.

Chaudhary also said Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had recently launched the ‘NUDGE (Non-Intrusive Usage of Data to Guide and Enable) taxpayers campaign’, under which 44,057 emails and messages had been sent to select taxpayers who had invested and traded in the VDAs but not reported the transactions in Schedule VDA of their Income Tax Returns (ITRs).

The tax on income from transfer of Virtual Digital Assets (VDA), as per section 115BBH of the Income Tax Act, 1961, was introduced from FY 2022-23.

“The total amount of tax offered by the taxpayers for FY 2022-23 and FY 2023-24 was equal to ₹705 crore,” Chaudhary said.

He further said that the CBDT had undertaken various initiatives to ensure accurate reporting and taxation of income from cryptocurrency transactions.

"TDS returns filed by Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) and ITRs filed by taxpayers are also analysed to identify discrepancies in reported VDA transactions and appropriate action is taken," Chaudhary noted.