New Delhi: Income tax officials assessing taxpayers flagged under Operation Clean Money have been told to ensure they use “polite language, without an element of threat or warning" in their communications.

At the same time, these officials have been given the power to undertake survey operations and even check CCTV footage from banks in case of suspected back-dating or fictitious cash transactions.

Assessing officers have also been directed not to probe a case further if the cash deposited by an individual having no business income and attributed to earlier income or savings does not exceed Rs2.5 lakh. For taxpayers above 70 years of age, this ceiling has been kept at Rs5 lakh.

These were part of the standard operating procedure set out by the income tax (I-T) department on Tuesday, to be followed by assessing officers verifying cash deposits following the demonetisation of high-value currency.

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As part of Operation Clean Money, the tax department has sent out emails and messages to 1.8 million taxpayers whose cash deposits exceed Rs5 lakh and in case of suspicious deposits between Rs3 lakh and Rs5 lakh. The taxpayers are required to file their responses on the e-filing website of the tax department and explain the source of the deposits. More than 1 million taxpayers have failed to respond to the tax department’s queries.

The tax department is expected to start the next phase of scrutinizing deposits below Rs5 lakh from next month.

It has identified 10.9 million accounts where deposits ranging from Rs2-80 lakh were made and around 148,000 accounts where the deposits were more than Rs80 lakh.

The tax department has asked the assessing officer to treat this exercise as a preliminary verification of information and not in the nature of scrutiny or in-depth authentication. It has also asked the assessing officer to collect information from the taxpayer only through the online platform and avoid telephone queries. However, in cases where there has been no response, the department has asked the assessing officer to scrutinize the taxpayer’s earlier returns. In case the details do not match the taxpayer’s profile, the assessing officer has been given the power to seek information under Section 133 (6) of the Income Tax Act.

Further, the assessing officer has been given the power of survey in specific cases and asked to refer the case to the investigative wing when required. “During survey, where there is a suspicion of back-dating or fictitious cash transactions, CCTV recording of the cash counter at relevant banks may also be checked, if necessary," said the document.

The Economic Times reported on Tuesday that the tax department could initiate surveys on taxpayers who have not responded to the tax department’s queries.

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