Income Tax Dept uncovers ₹22,000 crore in undisclosed foreign assets and investments: Report

The Income Tax department sends notices to taxpayers for failing to declare foreign assets, with penalties up to ₹10 lakh for non-compliance.

The Income Tax Department has detected ₹22,000 crore worth of undisclosed foreign assets and investments, The Economic Times reported, citing an unnamed senior official.

Revised Income tax slabs: Under the new tax regime, a nil tax slab will apply to annual incomes up to ₹12 lakh ( ₹12.75 lakh for salaried taxpayers with a standard deduction of ₹75,000).

HT.com couldn't independently verify the information.

The development comes after the government launched a drive against such assets last November based on information received under bilateral and multilateral agreements, data sharing treaties signed with various countries, as well as foreign remittance data.

The tax department has also sent notices to these taxpayers who filed their income tax returns without declaring these assets or income from them, including land, foreign securities and dividends.

"As we had data to back our claims, the exercise was non-intrusive and notices were only sent in cases where there was no response to email or SMS," the report quoted the official as saying.

It is compulsory to disclose foreign assets and income under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015. Failure to do so can result in penalties up to ₹10 lakh.

The Central Board of Direct taxes (CBDT) had initiated the verification and scrutiny process of Form 15CC, a quarterly statement of overseas remittances filed by authorised dealers, the ET report said.

Data from 2016 was made available for analysis for the first time.

Besides, the field officials were also asked to analyse data from the Automatic Exchange of Information and other information exchanges.

They were then made to prepare a list of high-risk cases based on data analysis from the financial year 2020-21.

The CBDT then launched a Compliance-Cum-Awareness Campaign in November 2024 to help taxpayers accurately report their income from foreign assets and also gave them an additional 15 day extension, according to the report.