Measures under Black Money Act yields results; undisclosed income of several crores found

Responding to the question related to Black Money, Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary on Monday, said in the Lok Sabha that as of May this year demand of Rs. 8,216 crore has been raised. In a written reply, Chaudhary also added that an undisclosed amount of several crores has been detected by the Union Government. The Finance Ministry revealed an approximate value of undisclosed income detected so far. 

• Undisclosed income of Rs. 8,465 crore with tax and penalty of Rs. 1,294 crore has been levied in HSBC cases.
• Undisclosed income of Rs. 11,010 crore detected from International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) cases.
• Undisclosed credits of Rs. 20,078 crore detected in the Panama Papers Leaks.
• Undisclosed credits of Rs. 246 crore detected from Paradise Papers Leaks cases. 

Explaining appropriate actions taken by the Government, the Finance Ministry added that several steps have been taken against 'tax evaders'. 

"The Minister stated that Income Tax Department takes appropriate action under relevant laws against the tax evaders. Such action under direct tax laws includes searches, surveys, enquiries, assessment of income, levy of tax, interest, penalties, etc. and filing of prosecution complaints in criminal courts, wherever applicable," added the Finance Ministry press release. 

Measures taken by the Government to bring back black money

• To specifically focus on the issue of black money, Government brought enactment of ‘The Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015’. 
• Constitution of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Black Money under Chairmanship and Vice-Chairmanship of two former Judges of Hon’ble Supreme Court. 
• Continues engagement with foreign Governments for the exchange of information. 
• To combat tax evasion globally, India has formed Automatic Exchange of Information. 
• India has entered into information-sharing agreement with the USA under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of USA.

The statement issued by the Union Government also added that a total of107 prosecution complaints have already been filed. The press release also gave a detailed figure of filed complaints,  compounded cases, and passed orders on black money cases in the last five years. The junior minister also specified that there has been some greater progress in some of the older cases.