People above 70 years of age will be spared by the tax department and will not carry out any further verification for cash deposits up to Rs. 5 lakh made   after the note ban, but the limit is fixed at Rs. 2.5 lakh for other individuals.

“There is absolutely no cause for panic. We are not going after everyone who deposited their holding of the demonetised currency in bank accounts between November 8 and December 30, 2016. Very clear thresholds have been set for tax department to take up deposits for verification. I repeat, it is for verification and not scrutiny or assessment,” a senior Finance Ministry official said.

“The threshold for further verification of cash deposits is Rs. 2.5 lakh for persons upto 70 years age and Rs. 5 lakh for taxpayers above 70 years where the source of such deposits is household savings and savings from past income and the individual does not have any business income,” he said.

The official said that these verifications are being sought to be done online and any person of up to 70 years of age, who has deposited more than Rs. 2.5 lakh in cash, has to go to the I-T department website and explain the source of deposit.

“No inquiry or third party verification will be initiated outside the e-verification.”

By Premji