Top Willful Income Tax Defaulters of India

We all know it’s our moral responsibility to pay the taxes to the government of India. But there are willful tax defaulters who shriek from this responsibility. Here is a list of top income tax defaulter cities of India.

Cities with the highest tax defaulter rate

Hyderabad has the highest number of tax defaulters as reported by the income tax department. The Telangana capital has 25 defaulters in its kitty, followed by Ahmedabad, which has 20 defaulters. Across the whole country, there are more than 96 defaulters who owe a whopping amount of Rs 3,614.14 crore to the government as starting from 1980 as the assessment year. These are the individuals and corporate who have failed to comply with the directions given by the government.

Till date, not even a single rupee has been recovered from them. In the majority of cases, the income tax department has still not able to figure out the assessee and in some cases the assessee has turned bankrupt. Uday M Acharaya from Mumbai is a prime example of how our country who claims to be progressive in its outlook is suffering. The individual has been dead, but he owes Rs 779.04 crores to the Indian government.  The financial capital, Mumbai have the highest amount of pending tax which amounts to Rs 1062.89 crores as compared to its peer Hyderabad Rs 1028.67 crore.

List of the big defaulters and to where they belong

• Uday M Acharya – Mumbai
• Totem Infrastructure Ltd – Hyderabad
• Irfan Ahmed – Lucknow
• Patheja Bros Forgings – Pune
• Royal Fabrics Pvt Ltd – Hyderabad

As per the Income Tax Law 1961, the department has a right to recover the taxes under section 222, 227, 229, and 232.

Has Income Tax Department taken some action?

Well, in its defense, the department has said that they have taken several stringent actions to curb the menace.

“We take several steps soon after finding that an individual or a company has not paid the tax. First, we send reminders to the address and then send our officials to speak to the assessees and try to attach some of their assets. When all doors are closed, we include the assessee in the defaulter list,” a senior I-T official told TOI.

The I-T department has also planned to name and shame the tax evaders by publishing their name on the mass media communication channels.

Why are the defaulters on a rise?

Contrary to the popular opinion, the tax evaders are growing in the urban cities more than the rural counterparts. The reason cited can be lack of trust or a desperate attempt to accumulate wealth. Even the big celebrities (like Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan)  and multinational corporates come under the tax dodgers list.

The only way to tackle this problem is the government of India should push the envelope and make stringent laws to battle against it.