Black money: I-T dept to file 100 cases by March 31

To crack the whip on over 100 “wilful” tax evaders whose names have figured in the HSBC Geneva black money account list, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) will soon launch fresh prosecution complaints — pressing tax evasion charges against the guilty in a court at the end of investigations.

To crack the whip on over 100 “wilful” tax evaders whose names have figured in the HSBC Geneva black money account list, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) will soon launch fresh prosecution complaints — pressing tax evasion charges against the guilty in a court at the end of investigations.

“About 100-odd prosecution cases would be filed by the income tax department before March 31 in the HSBC Geneva branch black money cases. About 60 such complaints have been filed till now,” sources said.

According to a senior government official, the IT department is fast-tracking these cases, since it has a “time barring” limit till March 31 and after that no legal action can be taken.

The department, according to sources, is hoping to collect an additional revenue of `3,200 crore as taxes and penalties after completing final assessments and prosecutions of these additional cases.

Till now, the department has collected taxes or revenues worth `3,150 crore.

The government has approached several countries for assistance under protocols of existing tax treaties and agreements on mutual exchange of information in tax matters.

Sources said tax officials would file prosecution complaints under Section 276C(1) of I-T Act (wilful attempt to evade tax, penalty or interest chargeable) and Section 276D (failure to produce accounts and documents).

Till December 31 last year, the I-T department completed assessments in 128 cases out of the total 628 Indian names or entities reported on the stolen HSBC list provided by France to India few years ago.

Out of the 628 people, 200 were found to be either non-residents or non-traceable, leaving tax sleuths to probe 428 cases.

CBDT, which is also supervising the I-T action vis-a-vis the HSBC list, has asked the probe wings to initiate action with regard to obtaining assistance from foreign countries in taking these cases to their logical conclusion.