Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chairman Sushil Chandra said that the department has faith on the income tax payers, but will not allow evaders to scot free.

The Income-Tax department today said it has picked up only high tax evasion cases for scrutiny, which account for around 0.35% of the 6.86 crore returns filed for Assessment Year 2017-18.

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chairman Sushil Chandra said that the department has faith on the income tax payers, but will not allow evaders to scot free.

“We have increased the tax base and have full faith on taxpayers. Last year, we got 6.86 crore returns and I have picked up only 0.35% cases for scrutiny. This means that 99.65% of the returns filed can be at peace,” Chandra said at an Assocham event.

He said out of this 0.35% cases picked up for scrutiny, 0.15% are for ‘limited scrutiny’ and 0.20% are for ‘full scrutiny’.

Scrutiny of Income Tax returns has been an issue of grievance for many assessees. Earlier about 1% of the income tax returns filed were picked up for scrutiny.