Tax payers disclose black money with no official estimation of percentage in India

In the last financial year (2015-16) 648 disclosures involving undisclosed foreign assets worth Rs.4164 crore were made in the one-time three months' compliance window ending 30th September 2015, under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015.

The amount collected by way of tax and penalty in such cases was about Rs. 2476 crore.

The government has taken several measures to effectively tackle the issue of black money, particularly black money stashed away abroad. Such measures include policy-level initiatives, effective enforcement actions on the ground, putting in place robust legislative and administrative frameworks, systems and processes with due focus on capacity building and integration and mining of information through increasing use of information technology.

As per the recent major initiatives in this regard include constitution of the special investigation team (SIT) on Black Money under Chairmanship and Vice-Chairmanship of two former Judges of Supreme Court.

The Constitution of Multi-Agency Group (MAG) consisting of officers of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) for investigation of recent revelations in Panama paper leaks.

Proactive engagement with foreign governments to facilitate and enhance the exchange of information under Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAAs)/Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs)/Multilateral Conventions and furthering global efforts to combat tax evasion/black money, inter alia, by joining the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement in respect of Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) and having information sharing arrangement with USA under its Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

Enactment of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015' to specifically and more effectively deal with the issue of black money stashed away abroad.

Enabling attachment and confiscation of property equivalent in value held within the country where the property/proceeds of crime is taken or held outside the country by amending the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002 through the Finance Act, 2015.

According high priority to the cases involving black money stashed away abroad for investigation and other follow-up actions including prosecutions in appropriate cases.

This was stated by Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.