Cash up to Rs 2.5 lakh deposited by housewives will not be checked after the ban

New Delhi: The Income Tax Tribunal (ITAT) has ordered that up to Rs 2.5 lakh in cash deposited by housewives at the time of banknote ban cannot be investigated. Uma Agarwal, a housewife from Gwalior, showed a total income of Rs 1,50,610 in her income tax return filed in 2016-17. He then deposited Rs 2,11,800 in his account after the ban. Thus, the housewife's cash deposit cannot come under IT scrutiny after the ban, the ITAT said. He said such deposits could not be considered as taxpayer income. Uma had filed the petition before the Agra bench of ITAT. The ITAT said the verdict would serve as the main basis in future such cases.

Uma said she had collected the amount in the form of her previous savings, money received from her husband and son and relatives.

The CIT (Appeals) did not accept his explanation and allowed the Assessing Officer to treat the amount of Rs 2,11,500 as undeclared income. Following this the applicant applied to ITAT. After hearing all the facts and arguments, he said that we believe that the amount deposited by the taxpayer after the foreclosure should not be treated as income. The contribution made by the housewife at home is not measurable. According to the 2011 census, there are about 127 million women housewives in India, compared to only 2.5 million. Women across the country save from their family budgets. For this he bargains fiercely with everything from vegetable vendors, to tailors, grocers and all other retailers. They get cash from relatives during festivals and they have to keep this amount in cash for years. They are now forced to deposit their savings due to the ban. In future, all such cases should be taken as a basis and housewives' deposits up to Rs 2.5 lakh should not be investigated.