Offering black money holders one last chance to come clean, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said information on assets disclosed during the one-time compliance window will not be shared with any other authority.
Mr. Jaitley, who met industry chambers, chartered accountants and tax professionals to clear any misgivings about the four-month compliance window provided to domestic black money holders to pay their taxes and escape harsher penalties, said there will be no extension of the scheme.
“People who have (undisclosed) income and have stayed outside the income tax net, this is the last chance to declare them and sleep peacefully,” he told reporters after the meet.
Black money holders who do not avail of the government’s offer and continue to hide wealth will be shown “consequences” of doing so, he said.
“There is a... (new black money law) and whosoever comes within its purview will be told about consequences (of holding black money),” he said.
The minister said any declaration made under the law will be protected. “That information is not to be shared with any other authority. It won’t be made public, it won’t be shared with anybody.”
The Income Declaration Scheme or IDS, which opened on June 1, allows domestic black money holders to declare ill-gotten wealth, pay a total of 45 per cent in tax and penalty and escape prosecution.
“The compliance will remain open from June 1 to September 30 and people who have such (undisclosed) income, which has not come under assessment they can disclose such incomes and legitimise by paying 45 per cent tax and penalty,” he said.
The meeting called to popularise the scheme and get best results, was also attended by Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh.
“This is not an immunity scheme. Immunity scheme is one where there is no penalty. In IDS there is penalty,” Mr. Jaitley said adding the Income Tax Department may come out with a third set of clarifications on the scheme in form of frequently asked questions (FAQ) based on inputs from today’s meeting.
The trade bodies, he said, have suggested that the tax should be allowed to be paid in installments. “We will consider this and we will come out with FAQs.”
