I-T dept. urges public to respond to its notice

Says churches and religious organisations should register under the income tax department

[caption id="attachment_250892" align="aligncenter" width="565"] Imokaba Jamir (centre) speaking during the interactive session organised by the office of the additional commissioner of Income Tax, Range Dimpaur at Hotel Saramati on May 24.[/caption] Eastern Mirror Desk Dimapur, May 24: As part of the taxpayer outreach programme of the Income Tax department, the office of the Additional Commissioner of Income Tax, Range – Dimapur, conducted an interactive session with the representatives of various civil society organisations at Hotel Saramati in Dimapur on May 24. Imokaba Jamir (IRS), additional commissioner of income tax (Dimapur), said at the programme that the session was organised with an idea to have a free and frank exchange of opinions regarding the concept of income tax and to educate tax payers on specific provisions and procedures while highlighting the initiatives of the department. The main focus of the session was rights and duties of tribals who are exempted from paying income tax under the Income Tax Act, 1961and the challenges faced by the department due to demonetisation. “Tribals from a particular area working and earning from the same area are exempted of tax, but when demonetisation happened, a lot of tribals deposited huge sums of money in their banks,” informed Jamir. Jamir explained that the department initiated investigation on those who deposited INR 10 lakh and above after the demonetisation and sent notices to both tribal and non tribal depositors but many have not responded. “The investigation in the case of tribals is mainly to ensure the deposits are genuine and eliminate the possibility of benami or illegal transactions,” informed Jamir while revealing that there are more than 900 cases of people not responding to the notices. “Those who have received the notices and are not complying, the deposits will be treated as suspicious and unexplained income,” said Jamir. “We are not out to penalise or punish anyone but they need to own up to their deposits to avoid unnecessary complications as we need to close all the cases.” He requested and urged all the NGO’s and organisations attending the session to use their influence and reach out to the public and propagate the legal requirement and to comply with the notices. During the interactive session, Jamir also said that churches and organisations like the Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) that have large sum of money in its accounts need to be registered under the income tax department as it come under the Association of Persons (AOP). “It has to be purely for religious and charitable purposes and not for profit,” maintained Jamir and revealed that almost all the Catholic Churches in Nagaland have got itself registered under the department. Representatives from the Tax Bar Association of Dimapur, Nagaland GB Federation and Nagaland Baptist Church Council, Dimapur Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Diphu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Karbi Students Association, and Dimapur Naga Students’ Union attended the session.