Fake invoices: I-T dept reopening old assessments

The income tax (I-T) department has begun reopening hundreds of old assessment cases, targeting businesses that may have claimed fake or inflated purchases to suppress profits and reduce tax liability.

- MONIKA YADAV

According to sources, in some instances, authorities have even gone back as far as five years, where credible evidence of tax evasion has surfaced. Many businesses—particularly in trading, electronics, and construction—are alleged to have used fake invoices from nonexistent suppliers, often referred to as "entry operators," to inflate expenses and wrongly claim input tax credits (ITC) under the goods and services tax (GST).

"Even though these tax returns were originally processed and accepted without any questions or objections from the income tax department, they are now being reopened based on new evidence from GST authorities which suggests fake purchases or bogus invoices being used to understate income," a source said.