As the Agricultural income is exempt from income tax, the Income Tax Department feels that many individuals have misreported their income as agricultural income in order to evade tax.
According to the sources, the income tax department has issued notices to the individuals who have shown unusual agricultural incomes.
The income tax department has issued notices to around 700 individual assessees who have shown agricultural income of more than 20 lakhs. In all those cases the agricultural income has been shown higher than their income from the main source, hence the department is of the view to suspect the correctness of the facts.
The income tax department has issued around 100 notices in the mumbai alone, and the study revealed that the income shown as agricultural income is twice the income from their main source which has been reproted in the past.
The income tax official said that some of the assessees don’t even have the large land parcel to justify their agricultural income, the income is suspected to be earned from other souces.The Income Tax Department is not targeting the farmers in India, but the individuals evading tax on the name of the farmers will be dealt strictly, the official added.