In a first, the income tax department has made public the names of 18 tax defaulters who together owe over Rs 500 crore to the government. The central board of direct taxes (CBDT) had posted the names of the tax defaulters, which include Somani Cements and Goldsukh Trade, who have a tax liability of over Rs 10 crore. Of the 18 defaulters, 11 are based in Gujarat, four in Maharashtra and the others in Kolkata, Jaipur and Hyderabad.

The department has tried to “name and shame the defaulters into paying the dues”, a source said. The CBDT has asked the defaulters to pay tax arrears immediately.

“This is the first time the department has put in public domain a list of those wilful tax defaulters who have a tax liability of Rs 10 crore and above. In many cases the assessees were not traceable,” the sources said.

The department had also provided the PAN number and the last known address of the defaulters so that members of the public could also provide some information about their whereabouts, the source added.

The Gujarat-based companies in the list include Somani Cement with tax arrears of Rs 27.47 crore, Blue Information Technology (Rs 75.11 crore), Appletech Solutions (Rs 27.07 crore), Jupiter Business (Rs 21.31 crore), Hirak Biotech (Rs 18.54 crore), Icon Bio Pharma & Healthcare Ltd (Rs 17.69 crore), Banyan & Berry Alloys (Rs 17.48 crore), Laxminarayan T Thakkar (Rs 12.49 crore), Virag Dyeing & Printing (Rs 18.57 crore) among others.

Besides, names of Jaipur-based Goldsukh Trade India (Rs 75.47 crore), Kolkata-based Victor Credit & Construction (Rs 13.81 crore), Mumbai-based Noble Merchandise (Rs 11.93 crore) are also there in the list.

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