Axis Bank Issuing Cancellation Notices for Using Personal Credit Cards for Business Expenses

[TechnoFinoTechnoFino is verified member.]

Dear TFC members,

I would like to inform you that Axis Bank has begun sending commercial use notifications to their HNI cardholders as well. As you may already know, Axis Bank has a history of cancelling their customers' cashback cards such as Axis Ace and Axis Flipkart Card if they are used for business purposes.

Recently, Axis Bank has sent suspected commercial use notifications to their HNI cardholders such as Axis Magnus, Axis Reserve, etc. Unfortunately, I have also received a notification from Axis Bank and they are requesting spending justification within the next seven working days.

In case a customer is unable to justify their spending as personal, the bank will close all their credit cards.
During that time frame (Dec 2022 and Jan 2023), all of my spending was personal. I am currently in the process of submitting all the necessary documents to Axis Bank for spending justification.
The primary reason for this post is to advise our members that even if you are using a high-end credit card from a bank, they may still flag your transactions if they are related to business expenses.
If you intend to charge anything other than personal expenses to your personal credit card, please exercise caution.

Edit:- many people are asking for subject line of the email, Here it is- "Commercial Usage on your Axis Bank Credit Card Accounts"

Update - Axis Bank has already sent notifications to more than 200 accounts on March 4, 2023. Now they have sent such a cancellation notice to more than 500 credit card accounts yesterday. and they are also filtering more accounts. (S.N.)

 

[AllSeeker]

There is some confusion here, transferring money from cc to bank account can indeed get ITD notice

They will ask where this money has come from in your account, you will have to answer.

They will not do their own "assumptions" like this is "borrowed from cc", you will have to provide documents and details to prove that. And there lies the issue, real way to do that is to take loan against cc limit and not transfer cc balance to a/c by some tricks.

Also, who gets ITD notice depends on how much is total ITR and how much is actual cashflow in and out of accounts and what not.

Recently one Civil engineer (contractor for government project) got IT notice for showing ITR of 7 lacs but having cashflow of 30 lacs in his account and some 20+ lacs cc bill payment. This might not click for others but in this community where we treat CC as earning source, we can easily guess where that extra 23 lacs was coming from (Especially since he has paid 20 lacs plus CC bill over the year).

ITD is very smart, when they hit hard, and you will be left scrambling. And yes, usually only rewards earned will be taxable as its income, but this above case is also punishable as it counts as money laundering.

All in all, people who are safe are usually those who are not paying taxes and deal in cash only and never spend (at least visibly) or those who pay taxes and do earning and spending suitable to their taxes paid (their real earning and spending does not need to be this, but they need to be able to prove it/show it as such)

 

[racydex]

Dear TFC members,

I would like to inform you that Axis Bank has begun sending commercial use notifications to their HNI cardholders as well. As you may already know, Axis Bank has a history of cancelling their customers' cashback cards such as Axis Ace and Axis Flipkart Card if they are used for business purposes.

Recently, Axis Bank has sent suspected commercial use notifications to their HNI cardholders such as Axis Magnus, Axis Reserve, etc. Unfortunately, I have also received a notification from Axis Bank and they are requesting spending justification within the next seven working days.
View attachment 11709
In case a customer is unable to justify their spending as personal, the bank will close all their credit cards.
During that time frame (Dec 2022 and Jan 2023), all of my spending was personal. I am currently in the process of submitting all the necessary documents to Axis Bank for spending justification.
The primary reason for this post is to advise our members that even if you are using a high-end credit card from a bank, they may still flag your transactions if they are related to business expenses.
If you intend to charge anything other than personal expenses to your personal credit card, please exercise caution.

Edit:- many people are asking for subject line of the email, Here it is- "Commercial Usage on your Axis Bank Credit Card Accounts"
View attachment 11732
Update - Axis Bank has already sent notifications to more than 200 accounts on March 4, 2023. Now they have sent such a cancellation notice to more than 500 credit card accounts yesterday. and they are also filtering more accounts. (S.N.)

Has this happened with HDFC Infinia so far?

 

[onlineramarao]

Doesn't work like this

Its not income as you have to pay it back

Rotated 8.2L and showed it as loan , no notice so far

Where do you show it as loan (which field/column) in ITR1/2/3/4/5 ?

 

[SamPtnk]

Where do you show it as loan (which field/column) in ITR1/2/3/4/5 ?

Itr 3
44AA > yes
44AB > No

Maintain Pl and balance sheet and fill

 

[flyhighpaper34]

i read a lot of transactions getting flagged from axis.
I have axis ace and i use snapay to send rent to my father. 15k per month for last 3 months..
should i continue.. or should i stop.. my intention is not to game to system.. but to get some cashback from my cash based transaction..
now i am thinking if i should rethink..

 

[Deleted member 11974]

if you can provide the invoice for the same shouldnt be a problem

 

[MangoRush]

only if you are doing in lacs every month, you should be worried

i read a lot of transactions getting flagged from axis.
I have axis ace and i use snapay to send rent to my father. 15k per month for last 3 months..
should i continue.. or should i stop.. my intention is not to game to system.. but to get some cashback from my cash based transaction..
now i am thinking if i should rethink..

 

[pothi]

only if you are doing in lacs every month, you should be worried

Or if one gets a substantial cashback like above 5k per month per card. Or if all the transactions bring more than the default cashback (more than 1% in some cards). That's why it is important to do all types of transactions including null CB transactions such as government spends (on some cards).

As a general rule of thumb, don't be hungry for cashbacks. Always have some buffer. If you make a living out of cashbacks, you are probably doing something that may be flagged one day.

 

[flyhighpaper34]

if you can provide the invoice for the same shouldnt be a problem

as i am sending to my father.. there is no invoice.. thats the problem..

 

[Deleted member 11974]

as i am sending to my father.. there is no invoice.. thats the problem..

rent is a tax claimable invoice
so i higly suggest you do it through a intermediary giving you invoice

 

[drsel]

rent is a tax claimable invoice
so i higly suggest you do it through a intermediary giving you invoice

Tax benefits can be claimed only by salaried employees, not by self employed professionals or business people

 

[Deleted member 11974]

Tax benefits can be claimed only by salaried employees, not by self employed professionals or business people

buisness people know how to inflate their expenses
so they wont be worried