Owners of Mumbai’s roadside eateries declare Rs 50 crore black money
Representational Image. Picture: Grabhouse
The Income Tax Department has never been busier. With the centre pushing to get the maximum out of the Income Declaration Scheme (IDS), the department has been conducting raids at various business establishments across the city.
The result – roadside eateries in and around Mumbai have declared around Rs 50 crore in cash and properties under the IDS scheme.
The owners will now have to pay tax of Rs 22.5 crore on the previously unaccounted income.
According to ET, the Income Tax Department raided about 200 eateries, including a well-known vada pav centre in Thane, a dosa centre in Ghatkopar, a sandwich centre in Andheri and a jalebi wallah in south Mumbai in the last two weeks.
“The owner of a juice centre in Ghatkopar has declared about Rs 5 crore in cash and property under the IDS. Some other roadside eatery owners too declared Rs 25 lakh-Rs 2 crore,” a source in the know of the development told ET.
The source further stated that Rs 40,000 crore had been declared under the black money scheme by Thursday evening, of which Rs 5,000 crore was declared from Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai.
“I was raided last week. Officials said that I should either declare the assets right now or they will be conducting similar raids in the future. I spoke to my accountant and declared Rs 20 lakh. But I am not sure if they will let me off like this. I am worried that they will conduct more raids just to get me to declare more,” said the owner of a Chinese food stall from Lower Parel on the condition of anonymity.
To avoid possible harassment from the government officials, financial advisors are even asking business owners to ‘spend’ the amount instead of declaring it.
The 4-month window to declare income under the scheme closed on Friday and it is likely that the government will declare the total collections on October 2.
