Income-tax department searches in NCR, Haryana, West Bengal reveal large scale under-invoicing of imports

• Integrity Education, Delhi
• 16, Oct 2021

The Income Tax Department has carried out search and seizure operations on an importer and trader of laptops, mobile phones and peripheral parts in National Capital Region, Haryana and West Bengal. During the course of the search, several incriminating documents, diaries and digital evidences have been found which reveal that the group is entrenched into large scale under-invoicing and wrongful declaration of goods imported by it. The evidences found and seized during the search reveal that the payments for such under-invoiced goods to the foreign consigners have been made through hawala channels.

The department said, large number of evidences indicating unrecorded transactions, unaccounted investment in properties and bogus loans taken have also been gathered. The modus operandi involves import of goods in the name of shell entities at under-valued and wrongful declaration of description of goods imported with an intent to evade customs duty. The value of imports declared at the Kolkata port of entry by the use of such shell entities in the past three years is about 20 crore rupees. The Income Tax Department said, it is estimated that the actual value of import during this period could be more than two thousand crore rupees.

Sources : News On Air