Income Tax Raid: What to do if there is an Income Tax raid, know your rights..
Big companies make every effort to save tax money, but they do not know that they cannot escape from the Income Tax Department. This question comes to the mind of every person about the Income Tax Department what is an Income Tax Raid, when, why, and how does the raid happen? What can the person on whom it is raided do?
What is the Income Tax Raid
Under Section 132 of Income Tax, an officer can raid any person's business or home anywhere. There is no fixed time for the raid and it is also not known how long it will last. Not only this, if something goes wrong then confiscation can also be done. The authorities have the right to search any person present in the entire premises. During the raid, the officers can even break the locks to find out information, in which the help of the police is also taken.
When is the Income Tax raid conducted?
Agencies under the Ministry of Finance like the Income Tax Department, Central Board of Direct Taxes, and Enforcement Directorate (ED) keep an eye on such people who do not pay tax on time or do not pay it at all. Those people are kept under surveillance whose tax and income differ or who are suspected of tax evasion. At times, these agencies get intelligence information (tip) from somewhere that this person is evading tax or has accumulated black money. In such a situation, he is kept under surveillance and then a raid is conducted at the right opportunity.
This is how an Income Tax raid is conducted.
The Income Tax Department tries to conduct the raid at such a time when the person is not aware of it so that he does not get a chance to recover. Most of the raids are conducted early in the morning or late at night so that the accused's house can be reached and he is caught before he can understand anything. The raiding team also has a warrant to search the house. When a raid is conducted, income tax officials are accompanied by police force and sometimes even paramilitary forces, to prevent any untoward incident. The raid can last for 2-3 days and during this time, people present in the house or office cannot go out without the permission of the income tax officials.
These things cannot be seized.
If this raid is conducted in a shop or showroom, then the goods kept there for sale cannot be seized, they can only be noted in the documents, and the papers related to those goods can be seized. If a large amount of cash or gold or anything else is found in the shop or house, the account of which is with the person, that is, he has shown everything in the ITR, that item cannot be seized.
What are your rights?
First of all, you can ask the raiding officials to show the warrant and identity card. If the raiding team searches the women of the house, then only female personnel can do it. If all are men, they cannot search the woman of the house even if they want to, even if the officers suspect something hidden in the woman's clothes. Income tax officers cannot stop you from eating food or from checking the children's school bags and going to school.
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