Delhi woman gets 6 months in jail for not filing ITR on income of ₹2 crore

Delhi court recently convicted and sentenced a woman to six months in jail for not filing a return on income of ₹2 crore. This case pertains to a complaint filed by the Income Tax Office (ITO) alleging that TDS (tax deducted at source) amounting to ₹2 lakh was deducted against the receipt of ₹2 crore made to the accused, identified as Savitri, during the financial year 2013-14, however, no return of income for the assessment year 2014-15 was filed by the assessee/accused.

"The convict is awarded a sentence of simple imprisonment for six months with a fine of ₹5,000 and in default to undergo simple imprisonment for one month," Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Mayank Mittal said in the order passed on March 4.

Savitri's lawyer had argued that she is an uneducated widow and has no one to take care of her. The court, therefore, granted her 30 days' bail to challenge the order after considering her application.

Nearly 90% income tax payers find refunds easier, says CII survey

A survey conducted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) revealed that 89 percent of individuals and 88 percent of firms were of the view that there has been a significant reduction in the waiting time to get an income tax refund in the last five years, between 2018-2023.

The survey was conducted in October 2023 among 3531 respondents out of which 56.4 percent were individual respondents and 43.6 percent were firms/enterprise/organisation-level respondents. The survey was conducted at the pan-India level where maximum participation came from the major states.

“The significant reduction in waiting time to get an income tax refund over the last five years by both individuals and firms, as shown by the survey results is encouraging as it reflects the Government's unrelenting efforts to make the process of getting income tax refunds simple and efficient over the years,” said Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII.