I-T dept committed to 'strict confidentiality' under black money scheme

Rebutting fraudulent messages circulating on social media about the issue of a list of region-wise declarations made under the black money scheme, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) here on Monday said it was committed to strict confidentiality.

"CBDT clarifies that no official list of region-wise declarations has been issued. The Income Tax Department is committed to maintaining strict confidentiality of declarations made under the Income Declaration Scheme (IDS) 2016," a statement from the Finance Ministry said.

The government asked people not to pay any heed to such fraudulent messages circulating on social media.

While announcing the results of the IDS on October 1 at a press conference in the national capital, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stressed that no break-up of these declarations on the basis of cities or states shall be released in order to ensure absolute secrecy with respect to the identity of the declarants.

Unaccounted wealth worth approximately Rs 65,250 crore was declared by 64,275 people under the Scheme. Given the tax rate, penalty and surcharge of 45 per cent, this can fetch the government a little under Rs 30,000 crore.

"Roughly, the declarations work out to Rs one crore per declarant. Some will be higher, some will be lower," Jaitley said, but ruled out any revelation of the names of the people who have availed of the scheme. "We won't give any specific information on tax declarants."

"In such large numbers people came to disclose income in eight figures. They have realised that they will benefit by tax compliance. Considering all the steps taken by government cumulatively, these are very significant amounts," the Finance Minister said.

--IANS

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