To find dormant firms, I-T dept to share tax details of companies with govt

Dept will share PAN, ITRs, audit reports and SFT with corporate affairs ministry

The Income Tax (I-T) department will soon share PAN (permanent account number) and ITR (I-T returns) details of companies with the corporate affairs ministry, amidst the government stepping up efforts to curb the menace of black money.

The sharing of the "bulk information" is primarily aimed at identifying dormant companies that are misused for tax evasion and money laundering.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), which frames policy decisions for the tax department, on Thursday issued an order on stipulated sharing of bulk I-T data with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

According to the order, accessed by PTI, the department will "share PAN, Income Tax Returns and audit reports of corporates under section 44AB of the I-T Act as well as SFT (statement of financial transaction) relating to these companies".

"The department will also share identified PAN and Corporate Identification number (CIN), PAN-Director Identification Number (DIN) and any other information considered necessary for identifying dormant companies," it said.

The I-T department and the corporate affairs ministry will soon ink a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on sharing of data that will also include "mode of transfer of data, maintenance of confidentiality, mechanism for safe preservation of data and weeding it out after usage, and the information which shall be furnished by the ministry to the I-T department."

A senior I-T department official said that the move aims at checking and identifying shell companies and bogus firms that have been indulging in generation of black money.

The corporate affairs ministry implements the Companies Act, under which all firms need to get registered.

Over 1.62 lakh companies that have not been carrying out business activities for long have been de-registered and a series of actions taken against shell firms, the government had said last week.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that over 37,000 shell firms have been identified and registrations of more than 1 lakh others have been cancelled.

Shell companies are dubious entities that are generally used for laundering illegal wealth.

Such firms also characteristically have private companies as majority shareholders, low turnover and operating income, nominal expenses, nominal statutory payments and stock in trade and minimum fixed assets.

A Special Task Force (STF) of multiple investigative and enforcement agencies has also been created by the government on directions of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) to look into cases of black money.

The I-T department also plans to share taxpayer data with the oil ministry for regulating LPG (Liquefied petroleum gas) subsidy, and the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) in relation to security issues.