"Massive Crackdown on Illicit Overseas Money!" I-T Department Raids 394 Shell Entities & 36 CAs Over Suspicious Foreign Remittances!

In a massive nationwide operation against illegal capital flight, the Income Tax Department and the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) have launched a detailed verification drive across multiple cities, targeting approximately 394 suspicious entities and 36 professionals. The sweeping exercise covers 117 entities situated in sensitive land-border states, alongside chartered accountants and tax professionals suspected of facilitating large, unauthorized outward remittances over the past three years.
The scam was uncovered during a probe into fake charitable trusts that were providing "accommodation entries" to launder black money disguised as bogus donations. Officials discovered that many companies sending crores of rupees abroad were non-filers or declared almost zero business turnover. Several entities operated from fake addresses and disguised these illegal money transfers under false pretexts like software imports, freight costs, consultancy fees, or inflated Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) expenses.
The tax department also put a small group of 36 accountants under the scanner for issuing a disproportionate number of Form 15CB certificates-the statutory certification mandatory for sending taxable funds abroad above ₹5 lakh. Tax authorities noted that these certificates were issued without basic due diligence or verification of account books, allowing shell entities to siphon domestic funds into overseas clusters.