Dead for 10 years, Madhya Pradesh teacher gets staggering Rs 7-crore tax notice

In Madhya Pradesh, a government-school teacher has received a tax notice of a staggering Rs 7 crore. But, what has stunned her family even more than the whopping amount, is that the teacher had died in 2013 and the notice pertains to the assessment year 2017-18. This family is not alone. Officials in the income tax department said as many as 44 people in the tribal-dominated Betul district have received tax demand notices of amounts ranging from Rs 1 crore to Rs 10 crore. Usha Soni was a teacher in a government school in Patkheda village. On July 26, her family received a notice from the Income Tax department, ordering the payment of Rs 7.55 crore in tax dues. “My mother died on 16 November, 2013, after a prolonged illness. The notice is for the 2017-18 assessment year. The document mentions a company called ‘Natural Costing’, which was engaged in buying and selling scrap materials,” the teacher’s son, Pawan Soni, said. “We have filed a police complaint. My mother’s PAN (Permanent Account Number) has been misused and we did not even know about it,” Soni added. In another similar instance, Nitin Jain who earns between Rs 5,000 and Rs 7,000 a month by working at a shop selling iron rods, was shocked after receiving a demand notice of Rs 1.26 crore. When he went to the income tax office, he found that there is an account in his name in Courtallam in Tamil Nadu, a town he has never even heard of. “They told me the account was opened in my name in 2014-15 and several huge transactions have taken place since, because of which I was sent a notice of Rs 1.26 crore. I have lodged an FIR,” Jain said. Betul Superintendent of Police Siddharth Choudhary said they have received two complaints of PAN misuse so far. “Two people have complained that they did not own the business or account mentioned in the income tax notice and that their PAN cards have been misused. A detailed inquiry has been initiated. We will get more details once we get information from the income tax department,” SP Choudhary said.