• Ahead of Lok Sabha polls, Congress slapped with Rs. 1,700 crore notice by Income Tax

    National
    Ahead of Lok Sabha polls, Congress slapped with Rs. 1,700 crore notice by Income Tax
    The income tax department sent a notice for Rs. 1,700 crore, including penalty and interest, for the assessment years 2017–18 and 2020–21.....


    Digital desk: Congress's financial troubles ahead of the Lok Sabha elections have worsened, the tax authorities issued the grand old party with a notice worth approximately Rs. 1,700 crore. This information was published by PTI hours after the Delhi High Court denied the party's appeal to challenge the reassessment processes for four years.

    According to PTI, which cited persons with knowledge of the situation, the income tax department sent a notice for Rs. 1,700 crore, including penalty and interest, for the assessment years 2017–18 and 2020–21.

    The Congress MP and attorney Vivek Tankha claimed that the demand notice was given without assessment orders when he argued the case before the Delhi High Court seeking a stay on the reassessment proceedings. According to the report of Times of India, he claimed that the purpose of the move was to financially damage the main opposition party in India during the national elections. 

    A bench of Justices Yashwant Varma and Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav rejected Congress's appeal on Thursday, objecting to the filing of a four-year tax reassessment against the party. The two-judge bench declared that the requests were rejected by its previous ruling that it would not hamper the start of a reevaluation for an additional time.

    This current issue concerns the assessment of the years 2017 through 2021. 

    The high court's decision to not postpone the reassessment proceedings for assessment years 2014–15 through 2016–17 is among the financial setbacks that Congress has experienced, including the receipt of the most recent income tax notice. The tax authorities had reportedly gathered "substantial and concrete" information, according to the court, that called for additional investigation and review.

    The Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited (MEIL), which has been in the news since SBI's release of Electoral Bond data revealed that it was the largest donor to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), contributing Rs. 584 crore to the party between April 16, 2019, and October 13, 2023, was specifically mentioned by the bench as something that it said appeared to be "unaccounted transfers" in three of these years.

    On March 13, the court denied Congress's appeal of an Income Tax Appellate Tribunal ruling that had denied Congress's request for a stay on a tax department demand letter for almost Rs. 105 crore.

    The Congress has claimed that the tax authorities' move is politically motivated and intended to financially ruin the party ahead of the vital parliamentary elections.