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The government will give a one-time 'short window' to holders of black money abroad to declare their wealth, pay taxes and penalty and escape prosecution under the proposed stringent law to deal with the menace.
Insisting that it is neither an amnesty nor a VDIS scheme, Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das said the only advantage under the scheme would be escape from prosecution. The source of income would have to be declared which would be throughly scrutinised.
"A one-time compliance window for a limited and short period of time will be given... The duration of short period will be worked out, will be specified in due course of time," he told PTI in an interview.
Das was elaborating upon Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's budget proposal to come out with a stringent law to deal with the black money stashed abroad.
He however refused to fix a timeframe of the window. Asked if the window may be for six months or a year, he said, "when I say short window, it means a short window."
Earlier, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha had said the failure to unveil assets abroad would invite a rigorous jail term of up to seven years, while concealment of income and tax evasion would result in 10-year imprisonment.
These provisions will be part of a Bill that the government plans to bring in the current session of Parliament to check the black money menace.
On whether the government would provide a six months window to people having assets abroad to come clean, Das said "nobody from government has said so...People are speculating outside. All I would say is that there will be a compliance window.
