It may be a reality with you that you have not paid your taxes in time and went on a holiday or bought a shiny new car. Even a big fat Indian wedding of your son/daughter could become the invoke IT department’s interest of you have some undeclared income. You have to be careful before you post the pictures or any other updates of your fun trip, the latest ride or even a lavish wedding on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Just an update is capable of putting you in trouble as far as the Taxmen Following you on Facebook !
Social media accounts are the latest means that help the IT officials to find the defaulters who they suspect have tried to mislead the IT department and have not been adept in paying their taxes. Apart from bank transactions and credit card statements, these accounts on social websites seem to be an easy way to watch the people not paying their taxes.
How Taxmen Following you on Facebook?
Social media sites are a great way to zero in on the tax evaders and also suspected black money holders as these accounts reveal a lot of information about the users. This information may otherwise not be provided by the concerned person to the department authorities. Most of the cases have either luxurious holidays, expensive gadgets, bags, watches, over-the-top events like weddings and other functions that have all the unaccounted income to get them into trouble. Therefore, it goes without saying that you have to be very careful in what you post on the social media as some updates may land you into deep IT trouble.
Assessee Specifically not filing their Income Tax Returns Properly and in time, but travelling frequently are under observation of Taxmen-
Those people who do not pay their taxes in time but make trips abroad more than twice a year, come in the limelight of the IT department. It is easy for the auditors to ascertain that the person in focus has evaded some valuable information which should otherwise have been provided to the officials. Such assesses might better avoid sharing data on social network to stay away from Taxmen following them on Social Media
This latest find by the officials is a new tool for them to extract the right information. You may be wanting to show off and let the world know of your fun time and assets, but it may backfire to land you in a lot of trouble. The Income Tax officials in metros, as well as non-metro cities, are now pretty vigilant about the taxpayers’ activities over the social media.
Avoid Display ! to keep Taxmen away from snooping in your Tax Returns
Well, you cannot even term this process as harassment since the information and profiles divulging the details are available for the public to see. The main idea behind this method is to scare the taxpayer so that they declare all the income in the Income Tax returns.
Once caught by Taxmen, getting away could be ticklish
Many business people do not report their exact income and try to trick the auditors and Income Tax officials, and this is the one ammunition that once drawn, is hard to counter by the businessmen. They are shown pictures and posts of their abroad trips or other expensive assets, and they have no option but to admit to their evasion.
“It may be a good idea to consult a Tax Professional where you are not sure of Income to be declared commensurate to your Expenses”
The main idea behind vetting the accounts on social media is to know the real lifestyle of the taxpayer and see if the expenditure is not in sync and proportion with the declared income by him. Then a proper probe into the matter can reveal the truth about the unaccounted income.