Govt. has taken all steps to facilitate black money declaration, says CBDT chief

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chairperson Anita Kapur on Thursday said the government had taken all steps necessary to facilitate black money declaration.

"We clarified a lot of queries of people. We also facilitated their filing till midnight, as we got some last minute requests from places other than Delhi," Kapur told ANI.

"From our side, everything was done to ensure that people who wanted to declare the assets, they are facilitated in declaring the assets," she added.

Kapur also said that the government could only make laws and give an opportunity for the people to take advantage of that.

"It is for the persons who have assets abroad, and their conduct is not under our control, to take advantage or to ignore the opportunity," she added.

She also said the compliance window was a three-month window giving taxpayers an opportunity to come clean by paying the tax and penalty.

"Once the window is closed, the Act (Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015) with all its provisions will be enforced on defaulters," she added.

Nearly 638 people have used the one-time compliance window for disclosing the black money. A sum of Rs. 3,770 crores has been declared.

The rush of black money declarants peaked at the Income Tax office in Delhi on Wednesday, as the deadline for the disclosure of the wealth stashed abroad expired on September 30.