Govt stands by 30 September deadline for disclosure of foreign assets

The government will not extend the deadline for income tax assesses to disclose unaccounted foreign assets abroad beyond the 30 September deadline of a one-time compliance window provided to black money holders to avoid punitive action.

The Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 has been enacted to deal with the menace of black money stashed abroad. The Act provides for a one-time compliance opportunity which will end on 30 September 2015, an official release stated.

Failure to declare an undisclosed foreign asset will entail severe consequences under the Act, including higher penalty, prosecution, and may also result in forfeiture of assets under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, it added.

It has advised persons holding undisclosed foreign assets to file their declarations in time well before 30 September 2015 as provided under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015.

It also assured assesses that the information contained in the declaration will be kept confidential as Section 138 of the Income-tax Act is applicable to the declarations.

''The process of filing declaration is simple and the declaration can be filed online also. The fears of harassment of the declarants expressed in certain fora are also totally unfounded,'' it added.

The Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 has been enacted to deal with the menace of black money stashed abroad.

The Act provides for a one-time compliance opportunity which will end on 30 September 2015.

Failure to declare an undisclosed foreign asset will entail severe consequences under the Act, including higher penalty, prosecution, and may also result in forfeiture of assets under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

"It has been cleared that the date is not extending. Those who want to disclose (unaccounted foreign assets), need to disclose by this period.

"This has been the stance of the government from the very beginning. Now the compliance window is in the last stage, those who want to disclose can use the window," V Anandarajan, joint secretary, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), said at an Assocham conference on black money today.

Anandarajan also clarified that when the black money is being assessed, no deduction or exemption would be allowed to those who declare such assets.

The official did not give any details of the response the three-month compliance window has received so far and did not provide the number of people who have come forward to declare their undisclosed foreign assets.