₹700cr tax fraud busted; old regime users under scanner
The Income-Tax (I-T) Department has uncovered a massive ₹700 crore tax fraud, mostly involving fake claims for medical expenses and donations.
The culprits? Many were high earners using the old tax regime, with some repeatedly making shady claims.
Now, the department is tightening checks on big refunds—so if you're expecting more than ₹10 lakh back, be ready for possible delays.
I-T department's crackdown on bogus deductions
To catch these frauds, the I-T Department is using advanced data analytics and AI to spot suspicious patterns.
This move has already led to a 24% drop in total refunds compared to last year—down from ₹2.10 lakh crore to ₹1.60 lakh crore as of September 17, 2025.
After a nationwide verification drive in July, a recent nudge campaign led to over ₹963 crore in bogus deductions being withdrawn and another ₹409.5 crore collected in taxes as of June 18; plus, taxpayers reported foreign assets worth a whopping ₹29,208 crore and foreign income of ₹1,089 crore.
If you made a mistake on your return this year, it might be a good idea to fix it now!