Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman Ravi Agarwal on Monday said taxpayers who have not disclosed their foreign income or assets in their Income Tax Returns (ITRs) have time till December 31 to file their revised return for financial year 2023-24.
The tax department is in the process of sending SMS and emails to assessees who have not disclosed high-value assets. With regard to notifying taxpayers for non-disclosure of foreign assets, Agarwal said the tax department gets all details about foreign assets from nations under the automatic exchange of information. It matches such details with the disclosures in the ITRs.
"The basic intent is to remind taxpayers to declare foreign assets. They can file revised returns by December 31,' he said at the inauguration of the Taxpayers Lounge at the India International Trade Fair (IITF) in New Delhi. Foreign assets include foreign bank accounts, foreign cash value insurance, financial interest in any business/entity, immovable property outside India, foreign equity or debt interest, accounts in which an assessee has signing authority, and any other capital assets.
The department on Sunday cautioned taxpayers that failure to disclose assets held abroad or income earned in foreign shores in the ITR can attract a penalty of Rs 10 lakh under the anti-black money law. The department issued a public advisory as part of a compliance-cum-awareness campaign to ensure that such information is reported by assessees in their ITR for assessment year (AY) 2024-25.
The CBDT has said that as part of the campaign, it will send "informational' SMS and email to those resident taxpayers who have already filed their ITR for AY 2024-25. When asked about the progress in income tax law review, the CBDT chief said public consultation is ongoing and more than 6,000 suggestions have been received by the department.
-- Harsh Kumar/Business Standard