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Kathmandu Saturday February 16, 2002 Falgun 04, 2058.
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Action against defaulters
continues
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Feb 15: On the second day of action
initiated against taxpayers suspected of evading taxes today, the Inland Revenue
Department (IRD) carried out three raids, out of the planned six raids.
Officials at the IRD confirmed that the raids
were made, but declined to disclose the names of persons and places where the action was
taken. However, today’s raids were carried out against businessmen involved in
transfer of money through the hundi system.
The raids were carried out on the basis of the
heavy telephone charges and the frequency of the businessmen’s trips abroad.
The department had carried out similar surprise
checks on Thursday on three such places. With the three raids today, the total number of
raids carried out by the IRD reached six.
The raids in the two days were carried out in
the Baneshwor, Tripureshwor, Indrachowk and Maharajgunj areas. According to sources, the
raids will be continued till mid-March and the next month will be spent on investigations
for further proceedings.
The IRD has also sent letters to thousands of
suspected tax evaders asking them to disclose their property, or face severe consequences,
sources disclosed.
The raids are being carried out on the basis of
the potential defaulters’ list prepared by the IRD, which include professionals,
businessmen and politicians, among others. The list initially comprised of around 1000 tax
defaulters who had failed to submit to the VDIS.
However, as of late, 500 defaulters have already
showed up at the department and settled their dues. The department now plans to carry out
at least 200 raids during the period.
The investigation team has seized land ownership
certificates, vehicle registration books, cheque books to unearth the volume of
transaction and bank passbooks, among others, for assessing the value of undisclosed
property.
The source added that unless these items are
evaluated, whether the taxpayer is defaulter or not cannot be established and punitive
measures prior to that cannot be taken.
The action of the IRD officials follows the
recent expiry of the extended deadline for the Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme
(VDIS), which was announced by the government with aims to bring all taxpayers under the
tax net.
While those who voluntarily disclosed their
property during the VDIS period were charged at the rate of ten per cent on accumulated
property, defaulters will be charged with 25 percent tax on the undisclosed property, as
per the Income Tax Act and fined extra for defying law.
The investigation officers have the authority to
probe in the tax related matter and raid the business premises including private houses,
which is in line with the governing regulations.
According to sources, actions have been
initiated against those potential tax evaders whose names have repeatedly been filed up by
informers. The IRD has a list of 150 such persons, the sources added.
The basis for raids and other forms of actions
were finalised by the meeting of the IFC held on Wednesday. The IFC had appointed the
investigation officers and formally transferred them the authority for taking actions
against the tax defaulters.
The government had announced the VDIS to grant
opportunity to the defaulters to disclose their property by Jan 13. The deadline was later
extended till February 12 at the request of the business community.
The government managed to mobilise revenue
totaling Rs 605.0 million from the disclosure of property worth Rs 6.05 billion from the
potential tax payers through the VDIS.
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