Indian Govt Detects Over Rs 16,000-cr In Undisclosed Income
The Indian government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been on a quest since March 2014 to crack down on black money and undisclosed income. The previous Congress government had been accused of allowing corruption and money laundering activities to flourish during their tenure and PM Narendra Modi committed to stopping all these practices and imposing tighter financial restrictions during his governments reign.
The Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia recently stated that the government was make significant progress in its financial crackdown on black money and so far a total of 16,000 crore rupees has been in undisclosed income has been detected during the last 20 months while a total of 1,200 crore rupees of assets have been seized by the authorities.
The government has made it a priority to crackdown on illegal wealth that has been hid overseas and introduced the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 that has a severe financial penalties and jail terms for all violators. Indian authorities have been working closely with a number of countries and financial institutions to get them to disclose the names of Indians who have been hiding their illegal wealth overseas.
Swiss banks which have been the refuge for a number of wealthy investors from across the globe in the past have also come under a lot of pressure from the Indian government to make full disclosure on the names and assets of Indians who have illegal wealth hidden in these banks. Most of these countries and financial institutions that have been requested to co-operate have provided the government with critical information that has helped them to uncover huge amounts of cash and prepare a list of individuals who need to be questioned.
In a statement, Hasmukh Adhia said
Our attempt to get more information from governments of other countries about the resident tax payers is likely to get more traction in 2016. The last date for paying income tax for those people who made disclosures under the Black Money Act is December 31, 2015. We are hopeful of getting approximately Rs. 2,500 crore as tax in the current year
India has also requested the United States to provide information on these matters and based on the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), the US has started to pass a lot of confidential information to Indian authorities, who expect the amount of undisclosed revenue and financial assets to increase significantly in 2016.
