The Union government has received 644 declarations for black money worth Rs. 4,164 crore under one-time, come-clean compliance window provided to evaders under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said on Wednesday.
In his Independence Day address in August 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said Rs. 6,500 crore had been disclosed under the window.
The final CBDT figure falls short of the figure Mr. Modi had cited. The government has also earned Rs 2,428.4 crore by way tax and penalty on the declared sums.
The last date for making declarations under the three-month window was September 30, 2015. The declarants were liable to pay tax at the rate of 30 per cent.
In addition, they had also to pay a penalty at the rate of per cent of the value of assets declared. The payments had to be made by December 31, 2015.
The stage is now set for the provisions of the new law to be invoked against offenders who failed to make use of the compliance window.
Any illegal overseas assets or income discovered by the tax authorities now, following the expiry of the one-time window, will attract tax at the rate of 120 per cent and penalty. In addition to coughing up the tax and penalty, the offenders could also face imprisonment of up to 10 years.
In the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Mr. Modi had in his campaign speeches reportedly said that black money to the tune of Rs. 80 lakh crore was stashed abroad that his government would bring back within 100 days of getting elected.
