 "Black money: Only 15% declarants came clean voluntarily")
Under the government’s black money declaration scheme, only 15 per cent of the 64,275 declarants came voluntarily to disclose their unaccounted wealth, while the overwhelming majority came because of mega surveys carried out by the Income Tax department across the nation.
A total Rs 65,250 crore of black money was declared under the Income Declaration Scheme, 2016.
This will result in the government getting richer by about Rs 30,000 crore, most of which came from information-based surveys and data mining techniques used to spur declarations.
However, sources in Income Tax Department said only 7-8 per cent of potential black money holders availed of the compliance scheme. The department is working on plans to bring the remaining black money holders under the tax net.
| 15% of total 64,275 declarants came voluntarily |
| As many as 200 surveys have been conducted in each of the 18 circles |
| Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Surat, Kolkata had faced mega surveys heat |
| 700,000 enquiry letters dispatched to individuals |
| Rs 10 crore and above disclosures were largely through penny stock trades or related party transactions |
| Only 7-8% individual of total black money holders availed the scheme |
| CBDT to hold an internal meeting on October 15 to get more evaders under tax net |
The Central Board of Direct Taxation (CBDT) is said to have called a meeting on October 15 to decide on further plan of action.
For the IDS 2016, the I-T department had conducted about 200 surveys in each region of the 18 tax circles across the country in 10 days before the September 30 deadline.
It had also sent letters to 700,000 possible evaders, asking them to avail of the IDS, said a highly placed source. “Surveys helped us in making the black money scheme a success,” said a tax official on the condition of anonymity.
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The I-T department had divided potential tax evaders into two categories: those who have undisclosed assets between Rs 1 crore and Rs 10 crore, and those above Rs 10 crore. The department had identified 100,000 individuals (including small traders, jewellers, retailers and vendors) as possible tax evaders in the first category and surveyed 1,000 such cases across the country.
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In the above Rs 10-crore category, the I-T department identified persons who had dealt in penny stocks or in companies that had a lot of related party transactions. Penny stocks have been a favoured route to convert black money to white. The tax department had identified such individuals to have booked capital gains or losses by transacting in penny stocks earlier this year. In its surveys, the department had identified suspects who had traded in shares valued more than their disclosed income.
The department is likely to have collected the database from various sources like the Financial Intelligence Unit, banks and regulators in past six months, said the source cited above.
In the above Rs 10-crore category, the I-T department identified persons who had dealt in penny stocks or in companies that had a lot of related party transactions. Penny stocks have been a favoured route to convert black money to white. The tax department had identified such individuals to have booked capital gains or losses by transacting in penny stocks earlier this year. In its surveys, the department had identified suspects who had traded in shares valued more than their disclosed income.
The department is likely to have collected the database from various sources like the Financial Intelligence Unit, banks and regulators in past six months, said the source cited above.
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During the surveys, the department had asked companies/individuals to declare their income under IDS in spite of tax filings. Tax officials also looked into the tax deduction at sources (TDS) and expenses claim by companies or individuals.
Apart from the penny stocks dealers, tax sleuths also conducted surveys and searches on mid-sized jewellers and bullion traders. According to sources, this category of traders had not disclosed their actual income for the last four-five years and agreed to disclose under the 2016 scheme.
The IDS was launched on June 1, 2016 and gave a one-time opportunity to declare unaccounted money by paying 45 per cent tax (including cess and penalty) on the declaration. At present, the tax department is in the process of compiling the data and expects the number to increase as last-minute declarations had not been counted in the tally announced on Saturday. According to reports, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana emerged as the top circles with disclosures in the range of Rs 16,000-19,000 crore. Mumbai and New Delhi accounted for Rs 8,500 crore and Rs 8,300 crore disclosures, respectively. Pune and West Bengal had disclosed Rs 4,000 crore each. Bihar and Jharkhand made declarations to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore each.
