In a startling revelation, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) today said the government has a huge tax demand of Rs 1.96 lakh crore, of which 84% cannot be realised due to various reasons like death, insolvency and liquidation of company.
"Out of Rs 1.96 lakh crore, the arrear demand reported by DIT [Department of Income Tax] Recovery, a major portion, i.e, 84.3% amounting to Rs 1.65 lakh crore was categorised as unrealisable demand by the department," said the report tabled in the Parliament.
According to a report of the CAG, even the huge tax arrears pending against Pune-based stud farm owner Hassan Ali Khan, his associate Chandrika Tapuriah, and late stock broker Harshad Mehta cannot be realised.
The three account for about 75% of the total tax demands of Rs 1.16 lakh crore pending against individuals.
"Hassan Ali Khan [Rs 50,345.73 crore], Chandrika Tapuriah [Rs 20,540.83 crore] and Harshad Mehta [Rs 15,944.38 crore] accounted for 74.57% of the total tax demands pending against individuals," the CAG report said.
It pointed out that 12 individuals account for 90% of the pending tax demand of Rs 1.16 lakh crore in individual cases. Of these, Hassan Ali account for 43%.
The report further said that Rs 65,816.58 crore of tax arrears is pending against corporate assessees.
In case of corporates, 28 companies account for 37% of the total tax arrears.
