Foreign Assets Abroad Under I-T Department's Scanner; Notices Issued To 400 Residents
The move follows the "big chunk" of data received under India’s Automatic Exchange of Information agreement with its foreign counterparts.
The Income Tax Department has issued notices to at least 400 individuals who have not disclosed their foreign assets held mainly in UAE, Singapore and UK, officials privy to the development said.
The move follows the "big chunk" of data received under India’s Automatic Exchange of Information agreement with its foreign counterparts.
The information received is learnt to have names of a thousand plus individuals who have not declared their foreign sources including income and properties in the ITR.
The said declaration is mandatory under the Black Money Act, which requires the full disclosure of foreign assets and income. Avoidance of compliance could attract penalty of Rs 10 lakh.
“Notices are served under the Section 131 of the Income Tax Act," a source in the know told NDTV Profit. The said Section deals with summoning any Indian resident for inquiry in case the department has reasons to believe that they have concealed income. Without divulging further details on the notices, the source said that they are high net worth individuals from cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad.
He added that essentially the intent is to nudge taxpayers to declare foreign assets, as they can file revised returns by December 31 with all declarations, the source added.
Typically, foreign assets include foreign bank accounts, foreign cash value insurance, financial interest in any business/entity, immovable property outside India, foreign equity or debt interest, accounts in which an assessee has signing authority, and any other capital assets.
