Data helps Taxman unearth foreign assets worth Rs 22,000 cr

New Delhi: The Income Tax Department has detected ₹22,000 crore during a drive against undisclosed foreign assets and investments, a senior official told ET. It launched the drive last November based on information received under bilateral and multilateral agreements and also foreign remittance data.

The department identified people with undisclosed foreign accounts or assets, or foreign-sourced income, and sent notices to taxpayers who had filed their income tax returns without declaring these assets or income, such as land, foreign securities and dividends.

"This was a very successful drive and taxpayers revealed foreign assets and income worth ₹22,000 crore and what was heartening was that many taxpayers themselves reached out to us," the senior official said.

The Central Board of Direct taxes, in this year's Action Plan, had asked its field formations to start the verification process and scrutiny of Form 15CC, a quarterly statement of overseas remittances filed by authorised dealers, ET has learnt. While the Form 15CC data were being collected and segregated since 2016, those were made available for analysis only from this year.

The field officials were also asked to analyse data obtained through Automatic Exchange of Information and other information exchanges and to prepare a list of high-risk cases based on scrutiny of data from fiscal 2020-21.

They shared the list by October 1, 2024. On the basis of the data, the board launched a Compliance-Cum-Awareness Campaign in November 2024 to assist taxpayers in accurately reporting their income from foreign assets under Schedule Foreign Assets in their Income Tax Returns (ITR).

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 comply may result in penalties of up to ₹10 lakh.

The department used data analytics based on information received by remittance, multilateral agreements and data sharing treaties signed with various countries. "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 official added.

The CBDT also gave an additional 15 days' extension for those taxpayers who were required to file a report for international transactions.