M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, July 25: Customers of the nationalised banks having Flexi savings accounts are being taken for a ride.
Banks offer Flexi savings to their customers describing it as a smart way of earning interest on savings since it is a combination of a demand deposit and a fixed deposit. But unsuspecting customers having Flexi savings account hardly understand what the bank projects about their savings are an inflated figure.
Here is an example:
Suppose there is a customer A. He has a Flexi savings account with any nationalised bank called Z.
The balance amount of customer A is actually Rs 45,00,000. However, the bank in its taxpayer information summary and annual information statement shows this Rs 45 lakh savings of the customer as 87 lakhs.
The bank sends this taxpayer information summary and annual information statement in respect of its customers having Flexi savings to the Income Tax department which immediately widens its scanning.
A senior branch manager of a nationalised bank requesting anonymity explained how this jacking of the Flexi savings is done.
According to this senior branch manager, this jacking is drawn on multiple credits and debits of the customers having Flexi savings in one financial year and the figure is presumptive on the basis that if these multiple credits and debits do occur in one financial year then this term deposit will be there.
However, a well-known chartered accountant Saras Jain in Daltonganj argued that the real balance of a customer having a Flexi savings account should be passed on to the Income Tax department and not this jacked term deposit amount which is not of the customer. But it is shown by the bank in his name which is sent to the Income Tax department through taxpayer information summary and annual information statement which is not fair.
Saras Jain further said savings account deposit for the short term should not be treated as a purchase of term deposit as this is quite an inflated and misleading piece of information that is given about the customer who is a taxpayer to the Income Tax department.
Saras reiterated that what is shown by the bank in its taxpayer information summary and annual information statement does not match at all with the corpus savings of the customer at that point in time.
He said it is great bewilderment at two levels one at the level of the customer and the other at the level of the Income Tax department.
The chartered accountant said the jacking is more than enough to send confusing signals to the central board of the direct taxes even.
Sources said as of now the last day of filing the income tax return is July 31 so there is a rush of taxpayers visiting income tax lawyers and chartered accountants.
