The Narendra Modi government today announced a reward scheme to crackdown on benami properties. The scheme promises to give a person reward of upto Rs 1 crore for giving specific information about benami property in a prescribed manner.
The scheme is named, the Benami Transactions Informants Reward Scheme, 2018. To become eligible for reward under the scheme, the informant is required to provide specific details about the benami property in a prescribed manner to the Joint or Additional Commissioners attached with the Benami Prohibition Units (BPUs) in Investigation Directorates of Income Tax Department.
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The information provided under the reward scheme must be actionable under Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988 which was amended as the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016.
The foreigners are also eligible for reward if they provide actionable information that leads to discovery of benami property. Identity of the persons giving information will not be disclosed and strict confidentiality shall be maintained.
The scheme is a follow up of what Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had proposed in Union Budget this year. He had promised that benami transactions and benami companies will be closely monitored. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last year said that Aadhaar number would be used to track “benami property”.
Benami property is an asset bought by an individual or an entity but not under their own names. These transactions are done in a way to escape taxmen and payments are usually made out of undisclosed sources of income of the buyers.
