Street food sellers found to be millionaires in UP

Some taxpayers use different tactics to evade income tax. Here is an incident where many street food sellers and fruit vendors are crorepatis. More than 250 people were found to be millionaires in a probe of the Income Tax department in Kanpur.

There were many such instances in Uttar Pradesh in the past also. These millionaires sell chaat, paan or fruits like a common man without even having a food license. They have been doing it for many years. They wrap up the products or close their shops on the arrival of the police or other authorities.

But, this time, hundreds of people were found to be millionaires, which shocked the authorities. The IT department keeps an eye on tax evaders. It focused on those who appear poor, but are rich.

The IT department used data software and other technical tools to identify the millionaires who disguise as poor to evade tax.

These millionaires have land, properties and cars. It was found that some fruit vendors have hundreds of cultivable land and scrap dealers have more than three cars. A few scrap dealers have good properties worth around ₹10 crores. While some properties were located in posh areas, some were in commercial areas.

These millionaires used such clever tactics to evade income tax and GST. These traders pay lakhs of rupees as rent per month. As per sources, the value of properties of such traders was found to be around ₹400 crores in 4 years. Besides, they have more than ₹30 crores worth of small saving certificates.

Some of them invested their money in cooperated banks. They also availed small finance schemes. Others bought properties in the name of their relatives. However, they entered their PAN number in government documents. It helped the IT department to track their activities. As the Aadhaar card is linked with PAN, it showed all properties on the name of an individual when tracked. Thus their secrets were revealed.

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