Foreign donations above Rs 1 crore under tax scanner

All foreign donations above Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million) will now come under the scrutiny of the Income Tax department.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes has issued new directives for selection of scrutiny cases during the financial year 2013-14 by the taxman which also includes big ticket international transactions.

The scrutiny is a diligent procedure applied by the I-T authorities to a select few number of cases in order to check any possible tax evasion each financial year.

The CBDT, in a latest directive, has asked I-T authorities to check all foreign donations exceeding Rs 1 crore during the 2011-12 fiscal (relevant for assessment year 2012-13) under the provisions of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act after picking them up from the official website of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The FCRA contribution details are updated and put in public domain by the MHA.

CBDT, the top administrative body of the I-T department, has also brought all international transactions (related to transfer pricing) over Rs 15 crore (Rs 150 million) under the compulsory manual scrutiny of I-T sleuths.

The new rules also provide mandatory checking of tax statements of all returns filed under section 147 (re-open cases) and 148 (income which escaped assessment) of the I-T Act.

Other cases which have been brought under the mandatory tax scanner include 'income from property held for charitable or religious purposes' and select cases where survey operations (tax raids on business premises) have been carried out on an entity.

The CBDT directive also said the taxman can pick up any case for scrutiny "in respect of which information is received from other government departments or other authorities pointing out tax evasion".