Chennai, July 14 -- The Income Tax Department officials today conducted raids at 18 locations in Tamil Nadu targeting individuals and entities facilitating fraudulent claims of deductions and exemptions in Income Tax Returns (ITRs).

An official release here said the raids were conducted at Trichy, Coimbatore, Salem, Madurai, Chennai, Vellore, Erode, Tiruvannamalai, Villupuram, Theni, Sivagangai, Pudukkottai, Virudhunagar and Tirunelveli in the cases of persons who facilitated fake deductions under various sections of the IT Act and claim tax refunds fraudulently.

It is seen that Income Tax practitioners and intermediaries located in various parts of Tamil Nadu have aided and abetted several thousands of taxpayers in making fraudulent ...