Black money disclosure: ID strictly confidential, says CBDT

Income Tax Department today said "strict confidentiality" will be maintained about the identity of persons who have disclosed black money during the 4-month window under the Income Declaration Scheme (IDS).

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), in a statement, also said no official list of region wise declarations has been issued.

A huge sum of Rs 65,250 crore in black money was declared through the one-time declaration window that closed last week, marking the biggest-ever disclosure of hidden wealth that will rake in Rs 29,362 crore in taxes to the exchequer.

"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 2016," the statement said.

It also cautioned that the public should not to pay any heed to "fraudulent messages" related to the scheme circulating on social media.

While announcing the details of IDS on Saturday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley too had stressed that no break-up of the declarations on the basis of trades/cities/states would be released in order to ensure absolute secrecy with respect to the identity of the declarants.

On the declarations compiled so far, the government will get Rs 29,362.5 crore in tax and penalty. The declarants can pay this amount in two installments up to September 30, 2017.

Half or Rs 14,681.25 crore will accrue this fiscal.

Last year, under a similar scheme for foreign black money holders, 644 declarations of undisclosed foreign income and assets were received, and just Rs 2,428 crore was collected in taxes.