Govt looks to unearth up to Rs 15,000-cr domestic black money by Sept 30

With almost two months left for people to declare their illicit money, the revenue department in an internal assessment has pegged a collection of Rs 10, 000 crore-15,000 crore through black money declarations, according to sources.

With almost two months left for people to declare their illicit money, the revenue department in an internal assessment has pegged a collection of Rs 10, 000 crore-15,000 crore through black money declarations, according to sources.

The Budget for 2016-17 announced a four-month compliance window, allowing domestic black money holders to declare their unaccounted wealth (HT File)

The Budget for 2016-17 announced a four-month compliance window, allowing domestic black money holders to declare their unaccounted wealth, pay a tax and penalty of 45% and escape prosecution and harsher punishment.

The window under the Income Declaration Scheme (IDS) 2016 opened on June 1 and will close on September 30. Tax and penalty on income declared, as per the original scheme, is to be paid by November.

According to sources, though response to the ongoing income declaration scheme is lukewarm as of now, the income tax department is flooded with queries about the disclosure, which is giving confidence to the government of a sizeable collection.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley has recently asked his officers to address all the taxpayer concerns to encourage disclosure of black money, sources said.

If Rs 10,000-15,000 crore is collected, it would be one of the highest disclosure of black money.

Last year, the government had given a similar opportunity to declare black money parked abroad. Around Rs 4,000 crore of undisclosed wealth was declared that time, which was way below expectations.

However, though the government is confident this time, and is making all efforts to get maximum disclosures, field officers have their doubts.

When HT spoke to a few officers, they said the maximum amount of domestic black money is parked in real estate, ranging from both low-value deals to high value transactions, which are hard to trace. It is also tough to convince people to disclose the illicit part of their real estate transactions.

At present, it is a wait-and-watch situation as to whether the government is able to achieve its target or not, and how close are they towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise to transfer Rs 15 lakh in each bank account, if the black money is unearthed.

(With agency inputs)