• Notification Date: 19-11-2022
• Notification No: N/A

Income Tax Department Initiates Search Actions in Karnataka

Income Tax Department has initiated Search actions on individuals in Karnataka who had executed Joint Development Agreements (JDAs) with various real-estate developers. The department has conducted search and seizure actions on October 20, 2022 and November 2, 2022. Searches have been made in more than 50 premises across Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Goa. 

The Income Tax Department has discovered a large number of incriminating evidences during the investigations. Evidences and proofs have been gathered in the form of documents and digital data. These data have been seized by the department. More evidences related to sale agreements, development agreements and occupancy certificates (OCs) have also been seized. According to these evidences, the land owners had not disclosed the income that was accrued to them from the capital gains on transfer of those lands given for development through JDAs to various developers. The owners did not reveal the income even after the authorities issued OCs.    

The Income Tax Department has also found out several instances that prove that the landowners have concealed the income from capital gains for various years. They have been suppressing the information by artificially inflating the cost of acquisition and several other costs. They were not disclosing full value of consideration on transfer land. The investigation further unearthed that some of the landowners did not even file their ITRs for various years although capital gains income had accrued to them.  

During the interrogation, the assessees accepted their lapses in filing the Income Tax Return files. They also agreed to disclose income from capital gains detected in their respective cases. The accused individuals also agreed to pay the pay due taxes.  

As per the search actions till date, unaccounted income of more than Rs. 1300 crore has been detected. The department has also seized more than Rs. 24 crores of undisclosed assets in the nature of cash and gold jewellery. The department is still running investigations.