In the tax assessment case, the decision has been reserved after hearing the Congress’ petition in the Delhi High Court.
The Income Tax Department has told the Tax Tribunal that the Congress Party had declared cash worth Rs 1,000 crore in the last financial year.
Apart from this, information about immovable property worth Rs 340 crore was also given.
During the hearing of Congress’s petition in the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, the Income Tax Department said that this action of the department is not going to cause any difficulty to the party. The party had already announced a corpus of Rs 657 crore and cash of Rs 388 crore in March 2023.
According to the report, sources in the tax department say that the Congress party has many bank accounts across the country.
On the other hand, it was said from the Congress party that its accounts have been seized by the tax department, due to which it has no funds left to contest the elections. IT says that the Congress party did not demand a stop on the action in time.
The matter pertains to the financial year 2017-18 when the Congress Party did not file the income tax return even after the extended deadline. Apart from this, the party had also taken donations above Rs 20 thousand in cash.
The tax department says that the party took donations of more than Rs 14 lakh in cash, which was more than the tax exemption limit. After assessment of the party’s returns in July 2021, the Income Tax Department had placed a demand of Rs 105 crore.
The party had given only Rs 2.5 crore. Earlier, if Congress had wanted, it could have got leave by giving 20 per cent of its donations, around Rs 21 crores.
However, now with interest this demand has increased to Rs 135 crore. If the Congress party does not pay it, it will continue to increase and the Congress has challenged this demand in the court.
On March 13, Delhi High Court had rejected the petition demanding a ban on IT action on Congress’s bank accounts. At the same time, the court had also said that there is no reason to disturb the decision of the Income Tax Tribunal.