‘No restrictions on Congress using bank accounts’
₹115 crore attached by the tax department will be transferred to the exchequer as per the procedure followed in the case of any citizen defaulting on tax dues, a person informed about the working of the tax department said on Friday. If the funds are insufficient, the same would be recovered as and when they are deposited into the accounts, the person cited above said, requesting not to be identified. This comes after news reports of a Congress party leader saying on Friday that the party’s bank accounts were unfrozen by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) after the party filed an appeal before it.
The party earlier in the day said that tax authorities had frozen its main bank accounts, impacting all political activity, www.hindustantimes.com reported on Friday. ITAT will hear the case next on 21 February, the person quoted above said. Queries emailed to the spokesperson for the finance ministry and to the Congress party on Friday evening remained unanswered till press time.
The person quoted above said that the process followed by the tax department is the same as in the case of any citizen defaulting on tax obligations. The tax dispute relates to the 2018-19 assessment year in which tax returns of FY18 were to be filed. The alleged tax dues are about ₹103 crore, later modified to ₹105 crore and an interest amount of ₹32 crore, the person said.
From different accounts of the party, ₹115 crore is being attached by the tax department, which is allegedly due, the person said. “However, no bank operation has been stopped for INC. What has happened is routine tax procedure and it has nothing to do with the assessee being a political party," the person said.
Read more on livemint.com
