I-T Dept to use power to arrest to retrieve huge tax arrears

I-T Dept to use power to arrest to retrieve huge tax arrears
The Income Tax Department is all set to crack the whip on tax
defaulters by invoking its power, which has not been used for many
years, to arrest and prosecute evaders. The step comes in the backdrop
of the government initiating various steps to curb generation of black
money in the country and also recently notifying the creation of the
first-ever
Criminal Investigation (CI) unit in the I-T Department. The
I-T Department, through its Tax Recovery Officer (TRO), has been
bestowed with the powers to "arrest and detain" in prison a tax
defaulter and carry out subsequent stringent penal action against the
individual under the provisions of the Income Tax Act to recover
arrears. The TRO's office and its powers have been "dysfunctional" for
a long time now, but rising tax arrears and economic crimes have made
the I-T Department revive and restore the powers and functioning of
this unit, which is deputed under every Commissioner of Income Tax
(CIT) in the country. "The jurisdiction of the TRO begins when an
assessee is in default or is deemed to be in default in making payment
of tax," the I-T Act stipulates.