Black money: CBDT to review HSBC accounts, ICIJ cases tomorrow

The CBDT will review some important black money and tax evasion probes being conducted by the Income Tax department tomorrow, including the HSBC Geneva banks list and few others where it is suspected that Indians have stashed assets abroad.
Officials said the apex policy-making body of the tax department will review the cases so that important instructions could be issued to field offices and ensure that cases reach their logical conclusion within stipulated deadlines.
They said the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) brass will review the investigation and prosecution cases of those Swiss bank accounts of Indians which were held by them in the HSBC bank Geneva, apart from those which were published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

These cases are also being monitored by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money and the review is aimed at taking stock of the respective probes and speeden them up by ensuring coordination between various sections of the I-T department.
Officials said while the department has, till now, filed over 140 prosecution complaints in courts against the HSBC account holders, over 50 notices have been issued in cases related to the ICIJ data.
The meeting, which will have all probe unit heads of the tax department interacting with CBDT Member (Investigations) Surabhi Sinha, is also expected to review other big cases of tax evasion emerging out from instances of hawala trade and illegal ponzi schemes.

Officials said cases of declarants who used the one-time compliance window to disclose their illegal assets based abroad, under the new anti-black money law, are also expected to be discussed and necessary coordination will be charted out so that these cases reach their logical end and the expected revenue is realised.

A total amount of Rs 4,147 crore was declared by 638 entities during the 90-day black money compliance window and the total revenue from the stash funds declared during the window is expected to be Rs 2,488.20 crore.
These declarants have to pay their taxes by December 31 this year.

(REOPENS DEL 48)
The clarification in the form of fourth set of frequently asked questions (FAQs) stated that there is no intent to "modify or alter the rate of tax, surcharge and penalty payable under the Scheme which have been clearly specified in the Scheme itself".
Besides, the government has extended the deadline for payment of tax and penalty under IDS and allowed declarants to pay the amount in three instalments by September 30 next year.
The first instalment of 25 per cent under the IDS 2016 will have to be paid by November 2016 to be followed by another one of 25 per cent by March 31, 2017.

The remaining amount will have to be paid to the exchequer by September 30, 2017.
Earlier the tax, surcharge and penalty under the black money disclosure window were required to be paid by November 30 this year.