Government has tax demand of Rs 1.96 lakh cr: CAG

NEW DELHI:In a startling revelation, official auditor CAG today said the government has a huge tax demand of Rs 1.96 lakh crore, of which 84 per cent cannot be realised due to various reasons like death, insolvency and liquidation of company.

"Out of Rs 1.96 lakh crore, the arrear demand reported by DIT ( Department of Income Tax) Recovery, a major portion, i.e, 84.3 per cent amounting to Rs 1.65 lakh crore was categorised as unrealisable demand by the Department," said the report tabled in Parliament.

According to a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, even the huge tax arrears pending against Pune-based stud farm owner Hassan Ali Khan, his associate Chandrika Tapuriah, and late stock broker Harshad Mehta cannot be realised.

The three account for about 75 per cent of the total tax demands of Rs 1.16 lakh crore pending against individuals.

"Hassan Ali Khan (Rs 50,345.73 crore), Chandrika Tapuriah (Rs 20,540.83 crore) and Harshad Mehta (Rs 15,944.38 crore) accounted for 74.57 per cent of the total tax demands pending against individuals," the CAG report said.

It pointed out that 12 individuals account for 90 per cent of the pending tax demand of Rs 1.16 lakh crore in individual cases. Of these, Hassan Ali account for 43 per cent.

The report further said that Rs 65,816.58 crore of tax arrears is pending against corporate assessees.

In case of corporates, 28 companies account for 37 per cent of the total tax arrears.