As Reported by The Economic Times of India – Assesses has been asked to clear the dues by 31st March 2013 in case payment of taxes is made on the basis of self assessment. In case if dues are not clear by 31^st March 2013, penalty will be attracted.

Around 73388 people have defaulted on payments of self-assessment tax which aggregates to Rs. 3859 crore as declared by the Revenue Department.

Under the provisions of the Income Tax Act filing return without paying the admitted amount of tax that is payable will render such taxpayer an assessee in default. Such taxpayers who default in payment of tax on the basis of self-assessment, may invite penal consequences.

For all the taxpayers, Income Tax Department urges to pay the dues by 31^st March 2013 in case returns has been filed in the current financial year and have defaulted on payment of tax on the basis of self-assessment.
Further in case of self assessment of tax, the tax arrears in future should be cleared along with the filing of return.

The government proposes to collect over Rs 5.65 lakh crore from tax revenues as per revised estimates, marginally lower than Rs 5.70 lakh crore budgeted for the current fiscal.

The government has already sent 35,000 notices to taxpayers who are not filing returns and a similar number of notices are in process of being issued. This process is carried on to check the tax evasion and letters are being sent to 35,170 PAN holders by the Directorate of Intelligence and Criminal Investigation.

A nodal cell has been set up to capture the response and take follow-up action. There will be an online monitoring system to ensure follow-up action and track return filing and tax payment of the target segment. The letter contains the summary of the information of financial transaction(s) along with a customized response sheet and seeks to know whether the person had filed his Income Tax return or not.