On the lines of income tax surveys of entities suspected of evading taxes, the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has set up as many as 40 audit commissionerates across the country tasked to audit accounts of companies and survey their other operations to detect any tax evasion.

The results of 'non-intrusive' audits are encouraging. "In the Chennai zone we have collected over Rs 130 crore in the previous financial year (2013-14) and this financial year up to December the additional tax mop up from undisclosed income was Rs 79 crore," said service tax commissioner, Sanjay Kumar Agarwal. Agarwal also holds the additional charge of the Large Taxpayers' Unit (LTU) in Chennai.

A list of tax evasion cases detected by the audit units nationwide was not available. Each of these commissionerates is headed by a commissioner-level officer and comprises of at least 200 officials in the ranks of inspector and above.

Two audit commissionerates have been created at LTU audit commissionerate at Delhi which will have jurisdiction over companies registered with LTU Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore, while LTU audit commissionerate at Mumbai will have jurisdiction over companies registered with LTU Mumbai and Chennai. The LTU has also helped the revenue department in keeping tab on big corporates and activities of their front entities.

Source:- timesofindia.indiatimes.com