I-T Department to Examine 60 cases in Foreign Asset, Details Found Mismatched in Disclosure

I-T department to examine 60 cases in foreign asset as tax authorities have found a mismatch in disclosure.

Indian Government has had long discussions on how to bring back black money that is invested by Indians in different parts of the world. But things got serious when the I-T department noticed a huge mismatch between the disclosure and the actual assets owned by those people.

In an interview, an official stated “We are verifying the veracity of the account holders who have claimed full disclosure of unclaimed assets abroad and also paid taxes under the scheme. However, they won’t be count if the information given by them was either suppressed or misrepresented”

Now the I-T department is conducting an enquiry over these individuals who had availed the scheme. Department has also asked them to disclose details of their foreign companies and all related taxes.

Another official added by saying “The re-assessment of tax filing is required and hence we asked for further details”.

Reports have it that the tax department has obtained data of these foreign accounts from tax havens and have tallied them with disclosures made by the declarant.

At the moment the I-T law allows tax authorities to go back 16 years in the quest to illicit foreign wealth. The government has shared the information sharing pact with 90 countries, which covers automatic exchange of information, helping the department to gather more data.

There has been a lot of buzz in the country since the news of “I-T department to examine 60 cases in foreign asset” came out.

In an interview Sanjay Sanghvi, partner, Khaitan & Co. stated that “One critical aspect of the disclosure window last year under Black Money was that if there was suppression or misinterpretation of facts, such declaration would be treated as “void” and negative consequences would follow including prosecution and non-refund of the 60% of the tax paid. If in a declaration, a person reported partial undisclosed foreign asset and foreign income “prosecution” can be launched dunder the law. In one of the FAQs issued on July 6, 2015, it was clarified by the Government that if only a partial disclosure is made, immunity will not be available for the undisclosed assets”.

The issue of black money, especially saving illegal wealth abroad in places such as Mauritius, Cayman Island, British Virgin Island has been a topic of huge political debate for our country for a long time. An unofficial estimate puts the illegal money of Indian saved overseas is expected to be somewhere between $466 Billion to $1.4 Trillion.

Also read: https://www.itrtoday.com/law-relating-to-gift-tax-in-india-2/