The Income Tax department will start sending SMS/emails to about 25,000 individuals, who are part of the "high-risk" cases identified for non-disclosure of foreign assets in the income tax returns (ITRs) filed for Assessment Year (AY) 2025-26, sources said.
Non-resident Indians (NRIs) haven't gone big on the Indian stock market story despite the post-pandemic boom. While domestic participation through mutual funds (MFs) and dematerialised accounts has soared, NRI participation figures show limited signs of a similar rise.
Think again. Not filing could cost you. Here's who must file, who should, and why it matters. What's more, the deadline to file your ITR has been extended till September 15, 2025
In September last year, India received financial information from over 108 countries regarding foreign accounts and income in the form of interest and dividend earned outside India.
The income-tax (I-T) department has issued showcause notices under Section 68 of the Income-Tax Act to several startups over funds routed through Singapore, seeking explanations for investments received over the past five years, people familiar with the development said. The department is questioning the source, identity, and creditworthiness of overseas investors in these transactions, they said.
The income tax department on Saturday said it has launched a campaign to send messages to taxpayers who have not disclosed high-value foreign income or assets in their ITRs for AY 2024-25. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has launched a Compliance-Cum-Awareness Campaign for Assessment Year (AY) 2024-25 to assist taxpayers in accurately completing Schedule Foreign Assets (Schedule FA) and reporting income from foreign sources (Schedule FSI) in their income tax returns (ITR).
The Income-Tax Department on Sunday cautioned taxpayers that failure to disclose assets held abroad or income earned in foreign shores in the ITR can attract a penalty of Rs 10 lakh under the anti-black money law. The department issued a public advisory as part a compliance-cum-awareness campaign launched recently by it on Saturday to ensure that such information is reported by the assessee in their Income Tax Return (ITR) for assessment year (AY) 2024-25.
Dubious and personal expenses of Rs 1,000 crore were made from bank-loan funds for Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal and his family members even as the airline "diverted" money to some tax havens, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) alleged on Saturday, after arresting the businessman in a money-laundering case. Goyal (74) was taken into custody late on Friday night after the central probe agency took him to its Mumbai office from Delhi. A special court set up to deal with cases lodged under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Saturday sent him to the ED's custody for 10 days, till September 11.
The share of non-resident Indians (NRIs) and overseas investors in Indian mutual funds has been declining over time, despite adding half-a-trillion rupees to holdings over the last five years. Mutual fund holdings for the segment went up from Rs 0.95 trillion as of December 2018 to Rs 1.54 trillion as of December 2022, shows Business Standard analysis of data from the industry body Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi). Their share in overall mutual fund assets has fallen from 4.2 per cent to 3.9 per cent during the same period.
The Centre on Wednesday placed a list of names of 627 Indian account holders in HSBC bank, Geneva in the black money case before the Supreme Court which asked a Special Investigation Team to go through the list and take appropriate action in accordance with law.
Mihir Tanna, Associate Director, S K Patodia & Associates, answers your tax queries.
Indians having undisclosed income in the United States (US) may face proceedings under Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, this financial year. Also, those named in global leaks may be searched, show-caused, and prosecuted, according to the FY23 internal action plan of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). The CBDT has rolled out an aggressive target and timeline to investigate tax evasion matters, especially those involving undisclosed foreign assets.
The money stashed away in tax havens is estimated at between $5.6 trillion and $32 trillion, numbers to make your eyes pop, asserts T N Ninan.
The new wing will be known as the corporate finance investigation department, which will be headed by one of Sebi's executive directors. This department will have information technology solutions experts, particularly to detect the menace of frauds.
Through these engagements with more than 50 countries, the US is looking to implement information reporting and withholding tax provisions, commonly known as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.
The department apparently suspects the use of shell firms or front entities in some aspects of such remittance. Money might, it suspects, have moved in some cases from tax-free jurisdictions or tax havens to accounts in the UAE and some South Asian countries.
The ministry said it was an anti-abuse provision amid growing instances of NRIs shifting their stay in low or no-tax jurisdiction to avoid tax payment in India.
Scores of National Students' Union of India activists on Tuesday staged a protest outside the residence of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in Delhi over the issue of black money stashed away in foreign banks.
At present, the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, covers only resident Indians. The Finance Bill has expanded the definition of assessees to include NRIs.
Fatca aims to track all US residents with non-US accounts and US citizens, too.
Undisclosed foreign assets and funds worth Rs 350 crore detected; these are separate entities from those featured in Panama Leaks and Paradise Papers
ED sought his custody for seven days, claiming it had knowledge of unidentified assets which value more than Rs 500 crore and his custodial interrogation was required.
The tax department will analyse mismatches in income declarations and spending patterns to trace tax evasions and black money.
Ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has reportedly moved his family assets from European banks to institutions in Gulf region after Swiss authorities took steps to freeze his foreign accounts.According to channel, former president is believed to have transferred a fortune to friendly Arab states, including the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
India and Singapore had in 2013 amended the DTAA to help exchange banking and tax-related information more effectively.
The Income Tax Act empowers the CBDT to capture information in respect of payments to non-residents, whether taxable or not
Replying to a query, whether the government has made any assessment of black money stashed by Indians in foreign countries, Jaitley said there is no official estimation of that.
You can remit abroad or in India. Both entail their own risks.
As the government submitted a list of 627 foreign account holders to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, the spotlight is on family of former Maharashtra chief minister, former minister in the UPA government, a Mumbai-based corporate among others. Vrishti Beniwal reports
Aiming to intensify government's drive on black money, the PMO has asked the revenue department to look for ways other than bilateral tax treaties to bring back funds stashed abroad.
The Income Tax department is likely to initiate prosecution against close to 300 people whose names have been submitted to the Supreme Court in connection with the probe into alleged black money accounts in HSBC Bank in Geneva.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said Switzerland has agreed to share information on Indians having illicit money in Swiss banks on independent evidence provided in each case to the Alpine nation.
The US has been widely criticised for using pressure tactics to secure information from other countries, without reciprocity.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that countries like India, if it gets the exemption, would be asked to bring down their oil imports from Iran to zero in six months' time.
Burman did not file the details of foreign account on the ground that he did not have its statements.
India and the US inked a tax information sharing agreement under FATCA which will enable automatic exchange of financial information.
Congress had attacked Narendra Modi during the Lok Sabha campaign on social media under the hashtag 'Feku'.
These situations require mandatory filing of Income Tax Return as per the provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961
Obama to push for expansion of Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.
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