Income Tax officers raid over 200 premises to nab suspects facilitating fake I-T refunds

(Representational image)

The Income Tax department is conducting raids in over 200 premises across the country to nab those individuals who are suspected of facilitating fake tax deductions, official sources said.

"Raids are currently underway at more than 200 premises linked to people who allegedly helped taxpayers claim false deductions under various heads, including political donations, tuition fees, and medical expenses," said a source, adding the quantum of fake refunds are to the tune of hundreds of crores.

Investigators allege that several intermediaries have been arranging bogus donations—sometimes routed through unregistered or dubious entities—to help taxpayers artificially lower their tax liability.

"It’s recently being seen that net tax collections growth of the central government is much lower than expected. Fake refunds are a major issue," an Income Tax officer told Moneycontrol. Data released last week showed that centre’s net direct tax collections was down 1.3% on year as of July 10 in FY26, on account of higher refunds.

Refunds between April 1 – July 10 FY26 stood at Rs 1.01 lakh crore, up by 38% on year.

In Tamil Nadu, raids have been conducted across 18 districts, including Trichy, Coimbatore, Salem, Madurai, Chennai, Vellore, and Tiruvannamalai, etc.

It has come to light that suspects have aided thousands of taxpayers in filing incorrect Income Tax returns, making bogus deduction claims under various heads such as Political donations u/s 80GGC, medical reimbursements u/s 80D, Tuition fees u/s 80C, HRA u/s 10(13A) and others, said sources.

It is also seen that the intermediaries have canvassed thousands of taxpayers, including employees of government entities and serving and retired personnel from defence forces across Delhi, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and Bihar, through closed Whatsapp and Telegram groups and word of mouth, they explained.

➡️The Income Tax Department has launched a large-scale crackdown on fraudulent claims of deductions and exemptions in Income Tax Returns (ITRs). Organized rackets, false filings, and misuse of beneficial provisions are under scrutiny.

➡️This large-scale verification follows… pic.twitter.com/ctozbLBDCa

— Income Tax India (@IncomeTaxIndia) July 14, 2025

In the case of such agents based across various stations in state of Tamil Nadu, it was found that specific E mail IDs have been created by them for the purpose of filing fraudulent returns of income.

From these e-mail IDs, return is being filed running into several thousands and bogus refunds have been claimed. "Incriminating evidences have been found and impounded during the survey operations and further investigations are in progress at all the premises," said the source.