The Income Tax department has sent notices to 45 e-commerce/online retailers for tax evasion of over Rs 10,000 crore engaged in apparel, jewellery, footwear, bags and gift items on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and WhatsApp.

The online retailers had just small shops and warehouses with turnover of over Rs 100 crore each shipping products sold online filing IT returns of mere Rs 2 crore.

IT department unearths massive under reporting of online payments

The IT departments tracked the payments received by the online retailers from UPI transactions and unearthed the massive under reporting of the payments received online. India has over 229.5 million active Instagram users and about 314 million Facebook users that are a major captive audience for marketers and online retailers.

IT sleuths identified 45 online retailers including 17 that sell apparel, 11 selling jewellery, six marketing footwear and bags, five retailing local fashions and four that sell home décor and furnishings products on Facebook and Instagram. The online retailers came under the IT radars after three Mumbai-based sari e-retailers sponsored a star-studded fashion show.

Tax official sent demand notices

Earlier the taxmen had sent tax demand notices to many social media influencers for tax evasion on hefty payments and commissions received companies whose products they promoted by posting videos and reels on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.