Around 11.44 lakh permanent account numbers (PANs) have either been deleted or deactivated by the government after it was found that in some cases, one person has been allotted multiple PANs. This information was given by Minister of State for Finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar who said that as many as 1,566 PANs were found to be ‘fake’ as they were either allotted to a person who did not exist or were issued in the names of persons with false identities.
Gangwar in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha said: “As on July 27, 11,44,211 PANs have been identified and deleted or deactivated in cases where multiple PANs were found allotted to one person.” He added, “one PAN for one person is the guiding principle for allotment of PAN”.
With the help of an application software, an Assessing Officer can delete or de-activate the PAN. This is not the first time when such an exercise has taken place. From 2004 to 2007, a similar exercise was conducted by the government to identify probable duplicate PAN’s. A Permanent Account Number or PAN is the key identifier of taxable entity and aggregator of all financial transactions which are undertaken by a person or entity.
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On being asked about the recovery of undisclosed income post demonetisation, Gangwar said that the Income Tax Department conducted various searches during November 2016 to March 2017, which lead to the seizure of Rs 900 crore and admission of undisclosed income of Rs 7,961 crore. Apart from that, as many as 8239 surveys were conducted which lead to the detection of undisclosed income of Rs 6,745 crore.
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“Information of various kinds of wrong-doings by about 400 persons was also shared with other law enforcement agencies such as Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation for appropriate action,” he added.
(Source: PTI)
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