Spotted a flat, plot or farmhouse bought in a relative or employee name to hide the real owner black money? You can report it and earn up to Rs 1 crore, but only if you use the one official channel the law actually recognises. There is no slick report benami website. The reward goes only to informants who file the prescribed Annexure-A form with a Benami Prohibition Unit. This guide shows you exactly how.
Quick answer: To report benami property, contact the Joint or Additional Commissioner of Income-tax (Benami Prohibition) for the district where the property sits. Ask for the Annexure-A form under the Benami Transactions Informants Reward Scheme 2018, fill and sign it, and submit it. You then get an Informant Code. Casual tips do not earn any reward.
Benami property is property bought by one person but held in another person name, where the real owner pays and enjoys it while the name-lender, the benamidar, only fronts. It is used to park unaccounted money, dodge creditors or evade tax. The arrangement itself is an offence.
The governing law is the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988, given real teeth by the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016, which renamed the Act and made it enforceable from 1 November 2016. Enforcement sits with Benami Prohibition Units (BPUs) inside the Income-tax Department Investigation Directorates.
Rewards for informants flow from the Benami Transactions Informants Reward Scheme, 2018, notified by the CBDT. Under it a person can get a reward up to Rs 1 crore for specific, verifiable information on benami property whose fair market value exceeds Rs 1 crore. The reward is two-stage: an interim reward up to 1 percent of the value, capped at Rs 10 lakh per property, and a final reward up to 5 percent of the value confiscated under the Act. The informant identity is kept strictly confidential, and even foreigners are eligible.
For the wrongdoer, the consequences are severe. The property can be provisionally attached under section 24, adjudicated and held benami under section 26, and confiscated and vested in the Central Government free of all encumbrances under section 27. Prosecution under section 53 carries rigorous imprisonment of not less than one year extending to seven years, plus a fine that may reach 25 percent of the property fair market value.
Real-life example: In March 2026, Dr. Shrawan Kumar Pathak of Lucknow district noticed that a Rs 2.4 crore farmhouse on the city outskirts, used and controlled by a local builder, was registered in the name of the builder office peon. He approached the Joint Commissioner of Income-tax (Benami Prohibition), Lucknow, asked for the Annexure-A form, and submitted it on 18 March 2026 with the sale deed and bank trail. He received an Informant Code on 25 March 2026. The BPU provisionally attached the farmhouse under section 24 in May 2026. As an interim reward, Dr. Pathak became eligible for up to 1 percent of value, capped at Rs 10 lakh, with a final reward up to 5 percent on confiscation. His name was never disclosed.
No. There is no public self-service portal. You report by obtaining and filing the Annexure-A form with the Joint or Additional Commissioner (Benami Prohibition) for the area where the property is located.
Up to Rs 1 crore, where the property fair market value exceeds Rs 1 crore. It is paid in two stages: an interim reward up to 1 percent, capped at Rs 10 lakh per property, and a final reward up to 5 percent of the value confiscated.
No. The Benami Transactions Informants Reward Scheme 2018 keeps the informant identity strictly confidential, and you are tracked only by an Informant Code.
Yes. Foreigners are eligible. A foreign informant should email Member (Investigation), CBDT, North Block, New Delhi at [email protected] with a copy to [email protected].
No. Only the prescribed Annexure-A submission earns a reward. A WhatsApp message, SMS, email, phone call or social-media post does not qualify, however useful the information.
The property can be attached under section 24, held benami and adjudicated under section 26, and confiscated under section 27. The offender faces prosecution under section 53: rigorous imprisonment of one to seven years plus a fine up to 25 percent of fair market value.
RTI is for getting information from public authorities, not for reporting an offence. You can use RTI to check land records or mutation entries that build your evidence, but the benami report itself must go through Annexure-A. See the RTI Act, 2005.
Contact your local Income-tax office or the Principal Director of Income-tax (Investigation) for your region; they will direct you to the BPU and the Joint or Additional Commissioner (Benami Prohibition) holding jurisdiction over the property location.