The Income Tax Department has given big relief to those taxpayers whose House Rent Allowance (HRA) data was not matching. The Income Tax Department said that reports of reopening of cases related to HRA claims are baseless. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said that some cases of discrepancies between the information filed by taxpayers and the information available with the Income Tax Department have come to the notice of the department.
What did CBDT say?
Issuing the classification in this regard, it was said that in such cases the department has alerted the taxpayers so that they can take corrective action. However, some posts on social media, as well as articles in the media, have highlighted inquiries initiated by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in cases where employees have made false claims of HRA and rent payments. At the outset it is stated that any apprehension regarding reopening of cases relating to retrospective tax and HRA claims on these matters is completely baseless.
What are the details?
The data analysis was conducted in some high value cases of mismatch between rent paid by the employee and receipt of rent by the recipient for FY 2020-21. This verification was done in a small number of cases without reopening a large number of cases, especially since the updated returns for FY 2020-21 (Assessment Year 2021-22) can be filed by the concerned taxpayers only till March 31, 2024. Could. have done.
It said the purpose of e-verification was to alert cases of mismatch of information only for FY 2020-21 without affecting others. It is reiterated that there is no special drive for reopening of such cases, and media reports alleging that cases are being reopened on a large scale by the Department, which is completely false.