The Kozhikode Income Tax Commissionerate will serve notices on more than 23,000 tax defaulters from northern districts of the State and the Union territory of Mahe this fiscal.

Addressing a news conference here on Monday, Income Tax Commissioner P. Devadasan and Additional Commissioner M.V. Rudran said that notices had already been issued to 10,243 out of the 23,437 identified ‘tax evaders.’ Notices would be served on the remaining persons in a few days. The list of tax evaders had been prepared based on input from multiple sources, they said.

Stating that the Income Tax Department would be taking stern action against defaulters, Mr. Devadasan said that only 1.7 per cent of the total population of 1.22 crore in Kozhikode, Kannur, Malappuram, Kasaragod, and Wayanad came under the tax net. This was below the national average of 2.9 per cent indicating that a large number of citizens were not paying tax.

Details collected

He said that the department had collected details of persons who had constructed houses and buildings exceeding 3,000 sq ft in the five districts since 2006. Notices had been sent to the owners. Majority of these buildings had been constructed using black money. However, a number of people had come forward to pay tax. Steps would be taken to initiate legal proceedings against those refusing to heed to the notices, Mr. Devadasan said.

He said defaulters also stashed away their unaccounted income in cooperative banks. The department had launched a drive to identify such persons. The cooperative banks in north Kerala had funds between Rs.35,000 crore and Rs.40,000 crore. The total amount in the cooperative sector in the State was more than Rs.1 lakh crore, Mr. Devadasan said.

Court order

The Supreme Court through a verdict had directed the cooperative banks to provide details of their depositors to the IT Department. Action would be taken if these banks were not willing to part with details.

Mr. Devadasan said that the income tax commissionerate carried out 43 raids (30 surveys and 13 searches) this year. The department had found out Rs.150 crore in the crackdown, he said.