Income tax department launches massive crackdown against fraudulent deductions
The department on Monday said that the raids were conducted after a detailed analysis of the misuse of tax benefits under the Income Tax Act, 1961, often in collusion with professional intermediaries.
Investigations have uncovered organised rackets operated by certain entities and intermediaries which help in filing income tax returns claiming fictitious deductions and exemptions, says the tax department.
'These fraudulent filings involve the abuse of beneficial provisions, with some even submitting false TDS returns to claim excessive refunds,' said the department.
To identify suspicious patterns, the tax department has leveraged financial data received from third-party sources, ground-level intelligence, and advanced artificial intelligence tools.
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