The Income Tax department will start sending SMS/emails to about 25,000 individuals, who are part of the "high-risk" cases identified for non-disclosure of foreign assets in the income tax returns (ITRs) filed for Assessment Year (AY) 2025-26, sources said.
The Income-Tax (I-T) Department has detected widespread tax evasion involving cryptocurrencies and, according to media reports, has issued emails to thousands of defaulting taxpayers seeking transaction details. Investors must understand the tax rules governing crypto assets and respond promptly to these emails.
The Indian government as respondent in Sanjay Bhandari extradition case has sought permission from the London high court to appeal against the discharge of the defence sector consultant wanted in Delhi to face charges of alleged tax evasion and money laundering.
ITRs with zero tax liability have increased to 55.7 million in FY25.
The Income-Tax Department on Sunday cautioned taxpayers that failure to disclose assets held abroad or income earned in foreign shores in the ITR can attract a penalty of Rs 10 lakh under the anti-black money law. The department issued a public advisory as part a compliance-cum-awareness campaign launched recently by it on Saturday to ensure that such information is reported by the assessee in their Income Tax Return (ITR) for assessment year (AY) 2024-25.
"Mr Robert Vadra not only renovated the aforesaid property at 12 Bryanston Square, London through Sumit Chadha but also stayed in the same," it said.
The Delhi high court on Monday refused to quash an Enforcement Directorate money laundering case against media baron Raghav Bahl, saying the plea was "premature".
A UK court on Monday ruled that Sanjay Bhandari, an accused middleman and consultant in arms deals, can be extradited to India to face charges of tax evasion and money laundering.
The Supreme Court in a 4:1 majority verdict upheld the government's 2016 decision to demonetise Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denomination notes, saying the decision-making process was not flawed.
The Delhi high court on Monday granted "last opportunity" to the Enforcement Directorate to respond to a petition by media baron Raghav Bahl to quash a money laundering case against him, but refused to pass an order staying the investigation at this stage.
Those availing the one-time 'compliance window' would be required to pay a tax of 30 per cent and a penalty of a similar amount.
Revenue department would come out with more clarifications through FAQs on the Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets Act.
Penalties for non-disclosure or inaccurate disclosure of these details can be severe.
Many salaried taxpayers hold the misconception that they don't need to disclose any other income since TDS is deducted from their salary.
Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 provides for a minimum penalty of Rs 50,000
The Bombay high court on Monday directed the Income Tax department not to take any coercive action against Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani till November 17 on a show cause notice issued to him seeking to prosecute him under the Black Money Act. The I-T department had issued the notice to Ambani on August 8, 2022 for allegedly evading Rs 420 crore in taxes on undisclosed funds worth more than Rs 814 crore held in two Swiss bank accounts. The department has charged Ambani (63) with "wilful" evasion, saying he "intentionally" did not disclose his foreign bank account details and financial interests to Indian tax authorities.
Penalties for undisclosed foreign income and assets extend up to 300%.
The move follows poor results in detecting undisclosed foreign assets and delay in concluding pending matters under the Black Money Act, which came into effect in 2015. According to the official data, only 52 cases have been identified so far. Of these, nine are from Mumbai alone.
The queries, sent in November, were mainly about Capital Investment Trust, which the I-T department said, was used for the purpose of transferring foreign funds comprising global depository receipts (GDRs) of the value of $400 million to two Indian entities - Reliance Utilities & Power (RUPL) and Reliance Port & Terminal (RPTL), owned by the Ambani family. A show-cause notice issued on March 29 to Ambani's wife Nita, and their three children.
The income tax department has sought to prosecute Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani under the Black Money Act for allegedly evading Rs 420 crore in taxes on undisclosed funds worth more than Rs 814 crore held in two Swiss bank accounts.
Indians having undisclosed income in the United States (US) may face proceedings under Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, this financial year. Also, those named in global leaks may be searched, show-caused, and prosecuted, according to the FY23 internal action plan of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). The CBDT has rolled out an aggressive target and timeline to investigate tax evasion matters, especially those involving undisclosed foreign assets.
At present, the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, covers only resident Indians. The Finance Bill has expanded the definition of assessees to include NRIs.
'Quite a few notices have been issued in both black money and benami transactions.'
The government will investigate every Indian name appearing in an unprecedented leak of financial records, known as the 'Pandora Papers', which alleged that many world leaders have secret offshore stores of wealth.
Black money Bill: Govt may widen disclosure window to 3-6 months.
Debt-ridden firm Reliance Capital on Monday objected to the proposed 33.12 per cent stake sale of Prime Focus Ltd (PFL) by Credit Suisse to PFL's promoter group at Rs 44.15 per share. Anil Ambani's Reliance Group company Reliance Capital in a statement termed the proposed transaction as a blatant abuse of the purported rights by Credit Suisse under certain lending agreements with the RCAP Group. However, Reliance Capital did not share the details of the "blatant abuse of the purported rights".
The court put various conditions on Khaitan, including that he will not tamper with the evidence or try to contact or influence the witnesses and join the investigation as and when called.
In the first of a three-part series Paranjoy Guha Thakurta details the salient features of the Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets (Imposition of Tax) Act, 2015.
The Finance Ministry is likely to exempt assesses from sharing details of company sponsored foreign trips in the revised Income Tax Return (ITR) forms.
Last week, the government had introduced the black money Bill.
Since arraignment under money laundering is a tougher offence, the CBDT hopes it will also overcome its dismal score sheet to prove satisfactorily to the courts that these cases were genuine ones of tax evasion.
Sushil Chandra will conduct the UP, Punjab, Goa, Manipur, Uttarakhand elections before he retires in May 2022.
Government will provide a short window of a "few months" to income tax assesses to come clean by declaring their money and assets stashed abroad.
The 90-day compliance window has been provided for people to pay tax and penalty of 60 per cent on undisclosed overseas assets and come clean.
On October 18, the tax department had said searches had led to detection of undisclosed income of more than Rs 500 crore in addition to Rs 93 crore worth seizures, including gold jewellery and diamonds. A revised appraisal of such seizures now pegs its value at Rs 106 crore which includes cash (Rs 45 crore), gold jewellery and diamonds (Rs 41 crore) and foreign currency Rs 20 crore.
The tax department is working to ensure that there is no loophole in the compliance window.
Apart from them, Chidambaram's wife -- Nalini -- has been chargesheeted by the CBI in the Saradha chit-fund scam for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 1.4 crore.
The 90-day compliance window to declare overseas wealth ends on September 30.
The black money bill got the nod of the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
The government notified the compliance window under the Act.
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