Lok Sabha Question No. 2148 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-07-28
Subject: Reduction of Penalty on Black Money
Ministry: FINANCE
Asked by: M. UDHAYAKUMAR

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FINANCE

## DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 2148 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 28 TH JULY, 2017 6, SHRAVANA, 1939 (SAKA)

## REDUCTION OF PENALTY ON BLACK MONEY

## 2148. ADV. M. UDHAYAKUMAR:

Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has reduced the penalty on black money from 132 per cent to 50 per cent and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the total amount of black money collected after the said reduction of penalty; and
- (c) whether the Government is considering any other options to unearth black money in the country and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE (SHRI SANTOSH KUMAR GANGWAR)

- (a) No Madam.
- (b) Does not arise in view of reply to part (a) above.
- (c) Appropriate  action  against  black  money  is  an  on-going  process.  Such  action  under  the laws includes searches, surveys, enquiries, assessment of income, levy of taxes, penalties, etc. and filing of prosecution complaints in criminal courts, wherever applicable. Such taxes, penalties, etc. form part of the total liability of each assessee and is enforced accordingly.

The Government has taken several effective measures, both by way of policy-level initiatives as well as through more effective enforcement action on the ground, to tackle black money. Such measures include putting in place robust legislative and administrative frameworks, systems and processes  with  due  focus  on  capacity  building  and  integration  of  information  and  its  mining through increasing use of information technology. Recent major initiatives in this regard include (i) Constitution of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Black Money under Chairmanship and Vice-Chairmanship of two former Judges of Hon'ble Supreme Court,

(ii)  Enactment of a comprehensive law - 'The Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets)  and  Imposition  of  Tax  Act,  2015'  which  has  come  into  force  w.e.f.  01.07.2015  to specifically and more effectively deal with the issue of black money stashed away abroad, (iii) Constitution of  Multi-Agency Group (MAG) consisting of officers of Central Board of Direct Taxes  (CBDT),  Reserve  Bank  of  India  (RBI),  Enforcement  Directorate  (ED)  and  Financial Intelligence  Unit  (FIU)  for  investigation  of  recent  revelations  in  Panama  paper  leaks,  (iv) Proactively engaging with foreign governments with a view to facilitate and enhance the exchange of  information  under  Double  Taxation  Avoidance  Agreements  (DTAAs)/Tax  Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs)/Multilateral Conventions, (v) According high priority to the cases involving  black  money  stashed  away  abroad  for  investigation  and  other  follow-up  actions including prosecutions in appropriate cases, (vi) While focusing upon non-intrusive measures, due emphasis on enforcement measures in high impact cases with a view to prosecute the offenders at the earliest  for credible  deterrence against  tax  evasion/black money, (vii) Proactively furthering global efforts to combat tax evasion/black money, inter alia, by joining the Multilateral Competent Authority  Agreement  in  respect  of  Automatic  Exchange  of  Information  (AEOI)  and  having information  sharing  arrangement  with  USA  under  its  Foreign  Account  Tax  Compliance  Act (FATCA), (viii) Renegotiation of DTAAs with other countries to bring the Article on Exchange of Information  to  International  Standards  and  expanding  India's  treaty  network  by  signing  new DTAAs and TIEAs with many jurisdictions to facilitate the exchange of information and to bring transparency,  (ix)      Enabling  attachment  and  confiscation  of  property  equivalent  in  value  held within the country  where the property/proceeds of crime is taken or held outside the country by amending  the  Prevention  of  Money-laundering  Act,  2002  through  the  Finance  Act,  2015,  (x) Enactment of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016 to amend the Benami Transactions  (Prohibition)  Act,  1988  with  a  view  to,  inter  alia,  enable  confiscation  of  Benami property and provide for prosecution, (xi) Initiation of the information technology based 'Project Insight'  by  the  Income  Tax  Department  for  strengthening  the  non-intrusive  information  driven approach  for  improving  tax  compliance  and  effective  utilization  of  available  information  (xii) Launching of 'Operation Clean Money' on 31st January 2017 with the mission to 'create a tax compliant  society  through  a  fair,  transparent  and  non-intrusive  tax  administration  where  every Indian takes pride in paying taxes'.

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