Sleuths from the Income Tax Department continue to be at the office of BBC India for their ‘survey’ for the second day. Sources in the I-T Department confirm that a ‘Satisfactory Note’ was prepared at the level of Additional Director & Director General (Investigation) and the same was approved by top level officers of the Central Board of Direct Taxes.
Though the timing of the ‘survey’ is being questioned and there are allegation by the opposition of media being gaged by the government, sources in the Income Tax Department confirm that they did not knock the door of the BBC without doing their homework.
A survey is conducted under section 133A of the Income Tax Act and under the rule Income Tax officials can enter the premises only during business hours. Sources tell CNN News18 that the clause of transfer pricing has been issued against BBC India only after substantial evidence.
Sources in the Income Tax Department also confirm that for a survey it is not necessary that the allegations are serious in nature. Usually, during a survey, the Income Tax Department looks at the books of accounts very minutely and see if the assesses has done any violation of the Income Tax Act.
However, former I-T officials who have been at the helm of affairs tell CNN News18 that in the case of Transfer Pricing the onus to prove the wrong doing lies on the department and it is usually very difficult to prove the violation at the appropriate forums.
Sources in the Income Tax Department told CNN News18 that the data of BBC India is voluminous and thus it took time to copy the data and analyse the same.
Data of phones and laptops of key BBC officials has also been copied by the I-T Department. It is expected that the survey will be over by today evening.
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