Income tax returns (ITR) filing: Salaried class taxpayers have been warned by the Income-Tax department against using illegal means like under-reporting of income or 'inflating' deductions while filing their returns. The I-T  department said that violators will be prosecuted and their employers will be intimated to take action against them. Issuing an advisory, the Central Processing Centre (CPC) of the department in Bengaluru that receives and processes the Income Tax Returns (ITRs), specified that such taxpayers should not 'fall prey' to unscrupulous tax advisors or planners who help them in preparing wrong claims to get tax benefits.
 
Here are the other points of caution that the CPC issued for salaried class taxpayers:
 
1.The department termed it a "cautionary advisory" on reports of tax evasion by under-reporting of income or inflating deductions or exemptions by salaried taxpayers. 
 
2. The I-T department said such attempts "aided and abetted by unscrupulous intermediaries have been noted with concern", adding that "such offences are punishable under various penal and prosecution provisions of the Income Tax Act." 
 
3. The advisory comes in the wake of the investigation wing of the department, in January, unearthed a racket of extracting fraudulent tax refunds by employees of bellwether information technology companies based in Bengaluru, in alleged connivance with a tax advisor. Recently, the CBI filed a criminal case to probe this nexus. 
 
4. As the tax filing season for salaried class taxpayers has just begun, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) that frames policy for the department, recently notified the new ITRs.
 
5. The one-page advisory said if the department notices any fraudulent claims in their ITRs, such claims "may be punishable under provisions of the IT Act and this may also delay issuance of their refunds." 
 
6. The advisory said, "Taxpayers, are, therefore strictly advised not to fall prey to false promises or mis-advice by unscrupulous intermediaries and submit wrong claims in their ITRs, which would be treated as cases of tax evasion." 
 
7. Further, the advisory added, "In the cases of such wrong claims by the government/PSU employees, reference would be made to the concerned vigilance division for action under conduct rules." 
 
8. It said the department possesses an "extensive risk analysis system" to identify persons who are non-compliant and aim to subvert the trust based-system "envisioned" while processing of ITRs at the CPC, which it said is automated and devoid of any human interface.

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9. The advisory said, "In all such cases of high risk, the department may examine and verify the details submitted by taxpayers in their ITR subsequent to the processing of returns." 
 
10. Asking tax planners and advisors to "confine their advice to taxpayers within the four corners of the IT Act", the advisory warned that the violators will be prosecuted and such instances will also be referred to enforcement agencies like the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for criminal prosecution.