Blackmoney: Govt collects Rs 2,428 crore tax from 644 entities

Government has collected a total of Rs 2,428.4 crore in taxes after over 600 declarations were made by stash holders to the Income Tax department under the one-time black money compliance window that ended last year.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes, in a statement, said this amount was received by it by way of tax and penalty upto December 31.
There was a "shortfall" in collections under this category as in some cases there was prior information with the taxman which led to the disqualification of the declarations while some payments had come post the December deadline, it said.

"A total of 644 declarations were made under the compliance window provided in the Act (new anti-black money law) which closed on September 30, 2015. The amount involved in these 644 declarations was Rs 4,164 crore.
"The declarants were liable to pay tax at the rate of 30 per cent and a like amount of 30 per cent by way of penalty on the value of assets declared by December 31, 2015. The amount received by way of tax and penalty upto December 31, 2015 is Rs 2,428.4 crore," the statement said.
Officials said there could be a chance that these figures could be further "reconciled" and collections may slightly go up as those payments could be added which came post the designated deadline of December 31.

In some cases under the 644 declarations of this one-time window, the department had rejected the undertakings stating that it had prior information about the individuals or entities involved through official channels and they cannot take this route to claim lesser punishment.

"The shortfall is primarily on account of certain declarations in respect of which there was prior information under the provisions of Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAAs) and Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs) or receipt of payment (was made) after December 31, 2015," the statement said.
The new law, called the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 came into force with effect from July 1, 2015.

The Act provided for a one-time compliance window to declare assets held abroad and pay due taxes and penalty on the value of assets declared.
This window was provided by the government as just a one-time facility for stash holders to come clean before enforcing the stringent new law to curb and check the menace of black money or illegal assets held by Indians abroad.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Budget had announced a
four-month window under the Income Declaration Scheme 2016.
The scheme, which opened on June 1, allows domestic black money holders to declare ill-gotten wealth and come clean by paying a tax and penalty totalling 45 per cent.

In every city where Principal Commissioner is stationed, a 'facilitation centre' in the nature of help-desk may be opened for disseminating information about the scheme.
The CBDT has also asked senior officers to hold frequent meetings with trade and industry bodies and professional associations, besides organising townhalls and seminars.
In order to step up publicity for the scheme at local level, tax officers have been asked to disseminate information through posters in regional languages, stalls at local fairs.
Last year, the government came up with a similar scheme for persons having unaccounted black money abroad. Disclosures during that window were charged with a total tax and penalty of 60 per cent.

A total of Rs 4,147 crore of undisclosed wealth was declared during the 90-day foreign black money compliance window that ended on September 30.
At 60 per cent (30 per cent tax and 30 per cent penalty), the government got a net tax of Rs 2,500 crore from the declarations.