Gurgaon: An income-tax survey at the city’s prime Badshapur tehsil has revealed that a single fictitious PAN (permanent account number) ‘ABCDEF1234’ was used to register nearly 25,000 properties over the last two years, indicating a large-scale scam to keep high-value transactions under the tax radar.A seven-member team of the I-T department’s directorate of intelligence and criminal investigation (I&CI), Chandigarh, began the survey at the tehsil office on Thursday and was still examining registration records at the time of filing this report.Preliminary scrutiny, according to sources, has indicated another 10,000-12,000 property transactions, involving an estimated Rs 15,000 crore, were not reported to the I-T department. The survey identified more than 35,000 property transactions that were either not reported or were reported with an incorrect PAN. The aggregate value of these transactions is estimated to exceed Rs 55,000 crore, the sources added.“The action forms part of a sustained drive to identify non-reporting and incorrect reporting of high-value immovable property transactions by tehsildars and naib tehsildars and to ensure that complete and accurate information reaches the income tax department,” an official said.During the survey, records available in the state’s property registration system were matched with statements of financial transactions (SFTs) that are furnished to the income tax department. That is when use of the fictitious PAN was discovered. An incorrect PAN prevents a transaction from being matched with the actual buyer and seller and can hamper the department’s ability to link property transactions with income-tax records of parties involved, also making it difficult to identify actual beneficiaries of high-value transactions.The survey comes against the backdrop of concerns raised by the I&CI directorate over SFT compliance by revenue authorities in Haryana. The department has undertaken similar survey exercises at other locations over the past year and subsequently apprised state govt of instances where tehsildars allegedly failed to report property transactions or furnished incorrect PAN details.The principal director general of I-T, Delhi, has also written to the Haryana chief secretary, highlighting deficiencies and the need for corrective measures, officials said. Haryana govt had assured the I-T department that centralised SFT filing for the entire state would be undertaken for the 2025-26 financial year and completed by May 31, 2026. The inspector general of revenue had also assured improvement in reporting compliance.However, I-T sources said the assurances had not translated into changes. Only around 45 of Haryana’s approximately 140 tehsildars had filed their SFTs by Thursday, although the deadline expired on May 31, according to a source. In comparison, more than 120 tehsildars had filed their SFTs within the prescribed period in the previous year.Sources said the continuing defaults and discrepancies required urgent intervention to ensure pending SFTs were filed, inaccurate particulars corrected and the centralised reporting mechanism was implemented effectively. “The directorate will continue verification of transactions detected and follow up on reporting compliance so that high-value property transactions can be accurately linked to the persons concerned,” an official said.
