Sonu Sood evaded Rs 20 crore tax, violated FCRA: IT Department

Sonu Sood has been hitting headlines for all wrong reasons. The income tax officials visited his house three days in a row for investigations. And now, we have learned that the actor has evaded tax of around Rs 20 crore, as per the IT department.

Sonu Sood, who had recently announced a tie-up with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party government, raised ₹ 2.1 crores from overseas donors using a crowdfunding platform, however, he violated the law – Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act – that governs such transactions. He apparently evaded the tax by showing the unaccounted income in the form of bogus unsecured loans from many bogus entities.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sonu Sood (@sonu_sood)

The tax department in a statement said, “Investigations so far have revealed the use of 20 such entries, the providers of which, on examination, have accepted on oath to have given bogus accommodation entries. They have accepted to have issued cheques in lieu of cash. There have been instances where professional receipts have been camouflaged as loans in the books of accounts for the purpose of evasion of tax. It has also been revealed that these bogus loans have been used for making investments and acquiring properties. The total amount of tax evaded unearthed so far, amounts to more than ₹ 20 crores.”

Sood’s philanthropic efforts for those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic earned him heaps of praises from all quarters. As per NDTV’s report, his non-profit Sood Charity Foundation which was set up in July last year during the Covid first wave collected donations of over Rs. 18 crores, however only Rs. 1.9 crore was spent on relief work and the balance of Rs 17 crores has been lying unused in the non-profit’s bank account.

We also got to know that his recent deal with a Lucknow-based real estate firm is also under the scanner.

“The simultaneous search operations carried out at various premises of an infrastructure group in Lucknow in which the actor has entered into a joint venture real estate project and invested substantial funds, have resulted in the unearthing of incriminating pieces of evidence pertaining to tax evasion and irregularities in the books of account,” the tax department said in the statement today.

“Evidences of such bogus contracts found so far are to the tune of over Rs 65 crore… Further investigations are being carried out to establish the full extent of tax evasion.” The department has also seized Rs 1.8 crore during the searches and 11 lockers have been placed under prohibitory order.

Also Read: Sonu Sood’s office in Mumbai surveyed by Income Tax Department; Report