Income Tax Department Targets 394 Shell Entities for Illegal Remittances
· India · Indian Express, News18, Zee News
The Income Tax Department has launched a nationwide verification exercise targeting 394 entities, including 117 in land‑border states and 36 professionals, suspected of sending large sums abroad while recording very small turnovers. Investigators say many of these shells claimed expenses as corporate social responsibility but actually diverted the money overseas, with turnovers showing no correlation to the remittances. Ground intelligence revealed several entities were not operating from the addresses they had declared and were being used to funnel funds through fictitious charitable trusts. The exercise, based on data analysis and on‑the‑ground intelligence, is part of a broader effort to uncover networks of non‑filers and shell companies involved in large foreign remittances over the last three years. The Department has been probing operations in cities such as Mumbai, Delhi‑NCR, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Kolkata, focusing on companies misusing CSR or other purposes to justify the outbo
Why it matters
If the investigation confirms these practices, affected companies may face fines, asset seizures and stricter oversight, raising compliance costs and potentially reducing illicit capital flight. The crackdown signals a tightening of tax enforcement for businesses using shell structures to move foreign exchange.
Read the original report — Indian Express
Join us on Telegram
Breaking news the moment it lands. At 10,000 members we ship the Android app.