Mumbai, Mar 8 (IANS): The Income Tax (IT) Department has detected a scam of bogus bills issued by hawala dealers enabling tax payers to suppress their taxable income, an official said here Friday.

The scam includes 150 cases in Mumbai with bogus bills worth Rs.6,500 crore and 39 in Pune with fake bills worth Rs.722 crore, totalling Rs.7,222 crore.

The IT Department found that many tax-payers obtained the fake bills for non-genuine purchases of expenses from some hawala dealers and used these bills to suppress their taxable incomes.

"Bogus bill are issued by hawala dealers to beneficiaries without actual dispatch of goods," the official said, explaining the rampant use of this practice to evade taxes.

The IT Department investigated the cases based on inputs by the VAT and Sales Tax Department of Maharashtra - which found over 2,000 similar cases of evasion in the state - as part of the regular sharing of information between the central and state revenue departments.

The IT Department has appealed to the assesses/tax payers who have availed of such bogus bills to come forward and disclose the correct state of affairs by filing returns or revised returns.

Tax payers have also been asked to clear their tax dues by March 15, which is the last date for payment of advance tax.