CBDT to acknowledge black money declarants by August-end

Black money holders who have disclosed their ill-gotten assets during July under the ongoing compliance window will receive acknowledgement from the tax department by August 30.

Since the government has extended the deadline for payment of tax and penalty under the Income Disclosure Scheme (IDS), necessary amendments have to be carried out in Form-2, which is the acknowledgement issued by the CBDT to people disclosing their wealth.

The IDS Rules prescribe that the acknowledgement in Form-2 is to be issued by the Principal Commissioner/Commissioner to the declarant within 15 days from the end of the month in which the declaration has been furnished.

An order issued by the Income Tax department said that in view of the changes in the IDS, it has extended the time for issuance of acknowledgement in Form-2 "from 15 days to 30 days in respect of the declarations filed under the Scheme in the month of July 2016".

The government has come out with IDS, beginning June 1.

Under the scheme, people having undeclared domestic assets can disclose it within the four-month compliance window ending on September 30.

The window provides an opportunity to persons who have not paid full tax in the past to come forward and declare the undisclosed income by paying tax, surcharge and penalty, totalling to 45 per cent of the income declared.

In order to meet the demand of traders, the government last month had extended the deadline for payment of tax and penalty under IDS and allowed declarants to pay the tax and penalty amount in three installments by September 30, 2017.

The first installment of 25 per cent under the IDS 2016 will have to be paid by November 2016 to be followed by another one of 25 per cent by March 31, 2017. The remaining 50 per cent will have to be paid by September 30, 2017.

Earlier the tax, surcharge and penalty under the black money disclosure window were required to be paid by November 30 this year.

"Time schedule for payment of tax, surcharge and penalty payable under the IDS has been extended... Accordingly, necessary amendments to Form-2 as prescribed in the Rules are in the process of being made," said the CBDT order.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had in June notified four forms, for e-filing or manual filing of the black money assets by a declarant under the IDS.

Form-1 is to be filled by the declarant giving details of assets he is declaring, Form-2 is the acknowledgement for the same that will be issued by the Principal Commissioner. Form-3 and 4 pertain to payment of taxes and penalty on these funds.