Section 285BA(3) Obligation to furnish statement of financial transaction or reportable account
Issue/Justification
Section 285BA may appropriately be amended to require information regarding the following financial transactions involving an amount over and above specified sums:
(a) Payment received by tour operators exceeding a specified sum.
(b) Information regarding Government tenders where the value exceeds a specified amount. This information may be provided by the concerned Government Department.
(c) Sales and purchases of shares exceeding a specified amount respectively in the case of day traders. This information can be filed by the concerned brokers who are dealing with the day traders.
(d) Receipt of donations by trusts or Institutions exceeding a specified sum. Such information may be filed by the concerned trusts or institutions.
(e) Educational fees paid in excess of a specified sum. The concerned educational institution should furnish the relevant information to the Department.
(f) Compulsory PAN on airticket bookings for foreign overseas package tours. Information to form part of Statement of Specified Financial Transactions under section 285BA. Persons booking international airtickets should be required to give their PAN while booking tickets when such foreign travel is organized as foreign package tours. This step will bring many high value transactions into the data system, which can be scrutinized for expanding the tax base. Alternatively, the person who is funding the package tour may be required to give his PAN. Those persons who are not having PAN can be asked to give a suitable declaration. To begin with, this requirement may be in respect of those persons who incur expenditure on air travel above a prescribed ceiling limit. Further, the airline companies should be required to forward such declarations to their respective Assessing Officers. This information can be included as part of the return under section 285BA.
Suggestion
The meaning of “specified financial transactions’ under section 285BA(3) may be widened to include within its ambit the aforesaid transactions.
Further, in respect of the afore- mentioned transactions, where the PAN is not provided by the payer, the provisions like TCS may be made applicable to the payee. Accordingly, the payee should be allowed to collect tax at an appropriate rate. Later, in case the deductee provides PAN within a specified period to the deductor, the deductee should be provided with a certificate like TCS certificate for claiming the same in the return of income. In case the deductee does not provide PAN within the specified period, the tax so collected would be added to the revenue of the Government.
(SUGGESTION TO IMPROVE TAX COLLECTION)
