The Income Tax department has begun notifying claimants of bogus refunds to update their Income Tax Returns and withdraw the claims, if any, the finance ministry said on Saturday.
Data analysis by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has revealed that a large number of bogus claims have been made on account of donations to unrecognized political parties, also referred to as Registered Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPPs), or to Charitable Institutions in an attempt to reduce their tax obligations and to claim bogus refunds, the body said.
As a result, SMSs and emails are being sent out from December 12 for such wrongful claimants to update their Income Tax Returns, the ministry said.
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“A targeted NUDGE campaign has been launched as a taxpayer-friendly measure, providing them opportunity to update their ITRs and withdraw wrong claims, if any. SMSs and Email advisories are being issued from December 12, 2025, to such taxpayers on their registered mobile numbers and emails,” read the ministry’s statement.
The CBDT also said it carried out follow-up searches against some of these RUPPs and Trusts and gathered incriminating evidence in respect of bogus donations by individuals and bogus CSR by companies.
Evidence gathered from enforcement actions indicated that RUPPs, many of which were non-filers and non-operational at their registered addresses, are not engaged in any political activity, and were being used as conduits for routing funds, hawala transactions, cross border remittances, and issuing bogus receipts for donations, it said.
“Such taxpayers are suspected to have indulged in claiming deductions for donations made to suspicious entities or have not provided relevant information to ascertain the genuineness of the entities,” the statement further said.
CBDT said a large number of taxpayers have already revised their Income Tax Returns for the current AY 2025-26, and have filed updated ITRs for past years.
“Every taxpayer is advised to ensure that correct mobile and email IDs are mentioned in their filings with the Department so that they do not miss out any communication,” it added.
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