After Congress, CPI gets Income Tax dept notice for Rs 11-crore dues

The Communist Party of India (CPI) has received a notice from the income-tax department, asking it to pay "dues" of Rs 11 crore for using an old PAN card while filing tax returns during the last few years, officials said on Friday.

They said the Left party is consulting its lawyers to challenge the notice of the tax authorities.

The sources said the "dues" to be paid to the I-T department include penalties and interest due to authorities for "discrepancies" in the use of an old PAN card by the party.

"We are seeking legal assistance and consulting our lawyers," a senior CPI leader told PTI.

 

Earlier, the Congress said it has received I-T notices, asking the party to pay dues of more than Rs 1,823 crore for discrepancies in tax returns filed for previous years.

Trinamool Congress leader Saket Gokhale has also claimed that he has received 11 I-T notices in the last 72 hours.

The Congress has been alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre is trying to "cripple" the opposition in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls.

The I-T department has also withdrawn the tax exemption of the CPI (Marxist) for 2016-17 and taxed the Left party Rs 15.59 crore for not declaring a bank account in its tax returns for the year.
 

The CPI(M) has claimed that it had filed its income tax returns in compliance with the notice and submitted various submissions from time to time, and that not mentioning the bank account was an "oversight" on its part.