Taxpayers who deposited Rs. 2 lakh or more post demonetisation, will have to make this disclosure in the new Income Tax Returns (ITRs) forms notified.

The information is also to be furnished in the new one-page, simplified ITR-1 'Sahaj' form for taxpayers who have income from salary, a house property or earn interest totaling up to Rs. 50 lakh.

The ITRs forms for the assessment year 2017-18 were notified by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). ITR Form Simplified; E-filing To Start From April

Column Part-E of the ITR-1 form would seek information on cash deposits made by the assessee between November 9, 2016, and December 30, 2016, if the "aggregate cash deposits" during this period were Rs. 2 lakh or more.

A similar column has been provided in all the other six ITRs forms launched. Giving the rationale behind the move, a senior official said: "While the government has issued notices under Operation Clean Money after it detected certain large suspicious deposits by people, there could be other instances of deposits of over Rs. 2 lakh being made."

The government brought the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojna (PMGKY) for disclosure of black money post note ban with heavy tax and penalty on the undisclosed income, but certain people may not have opted for it, the official said. Major Operation "Clean Money" Drive At Income Tax Department

"Such cases where it is found that the cash deposits do not match a taxpayer's profile could be probed after getting this information in the ITRs," he said.

The official said that the threshold of Rs. 2 lakh has been fixed, so that small taxpayer are not troubled.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the demonetization move on November 8 last year under which the old Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 note were rendered illegal tender.

The department has also made furnishing of the 12-digit Aadhaar number mandatory, and if it is not available, the 28-digit Aadhaar enrolment id has to be mentioned in the ITR.

The CBDT, the policy-making body of the tax department, has also reduced the total number of ITRs forms to seven from the previous nine this time. The last date for filing ITRs for AY 2017-18 is July 31. Govt Slashes Trade Mark Forms, E-filing Fees

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