Face prosecution if you don't disclose info related to foreign assets in I-T return form, warns government

One may have to face prosecution for not disclosing information related to foreign assets in income tax return form as the government takes its plan to fight against black money to the next level, a senior government official said.

Under the Black Money Act, money, even if sent through legal sources, without revealing it in the income tax return formalities; one can face prosecution for not disclosing foreign assets, Chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes Sushil Chandra said at an industry event on December 4.

"The department is taking strong enforcement actions against such people," he said.

Without divulging details, Chandra said that signed treaties with more than 70 countries on automatic information exchange about financial transactions.

The Income Tax department has found that many taxpayers whose information has been received have not shown their foreign assets or bank accounts in their returns.

Last year, as many as 4,500 returns were filed for prosecution by the income department, out of which 3,150 or 70 percent of them have been convicted, Chandra said.

Demonetisation was another step taken by the government in its fight against black money.

“In these four years, tax base has gone up by 80 percent. Number of tax filers has also gone up by 65 percent. Confident that even this year, growth will continue to head in this particular direction,” Chandra said, adding that rising of revenue and tax base continues to be an important criterion for the government.

In fact, last year the government had sent as many as two crore SMS and emails to filers who did not file returns and those whose bank deposits post demonetisation did not match with their tax return details, he said.

"Our gross direct tax growth rate is 16.5 per cent and net direct tax growth rate is 14.5 per cent, which itself shows that demonetisation really helped in widening and deepening of tax base," he added.