Black money: I-T dept issues notices in 475 cases for undisclosed assets of Rs 14,300 cr

The Income Tax Department has issued notices in 475 cases involving undisclosed foreign assets and income of over Rs 14,300 crore under the foreign black money act, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur said on Monday.

Besides, the undisclosed income of more than Rs 8,460 crore has been brought to tax and penalty of over Rs 1,290 crore levied so far for deposits made in unreported foreign bank accounts in HSBC cases, he said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

In the Panama Paper leaks probe, undisclosed foreign investments amounting to over Rs 1,700 crore have been detected so far, while sustained investigations conducted in the cases revealed by International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) have led to the detection of more than Rs 11,010 crore of credits in the undisclosed foreign accounts.

"As on December 31, 2020, notices have been issued in 475 cases under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, involving undisclosed foreign assets and income of over Rs 14,300 crore," Thakur said.

He said the government has taken various initiatives in the recent years to bring back black money from abroad. These include enactment of 'The Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015' which has come into force from July 1, 2015.

The government has also constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money under Chairmanship and Vice-Chairmanship of two former judges of the Supreme Court.

Also the government has entered into Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements/Tax Information Exchange Agreements /Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters/SAARC Multilateral Agreement with other countries which provide for exchange of information.

India has been proactively engaging with foreign governments, for exchange of information under these tax treaties.

Besides, the tax treaties/ agreements have been comprehensively amended to enable procuring the requisite information from the relevant foreign jurisdiction.

India has also implemented Automatic Exchange of Information based on the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and receives, from 2017 onwards, financial account information of Indian residents in other countries.