Lok Sabha Question No. 2345 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-08-04
Subject: Transfer of Black Money to Foreign Countries
Ministry: FINANCE
Asked by: Shri Anto Antony

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FINANCE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION 2345 TO BE ANSWERED ON MONDAY, AUGUST 04, 2025 / SRAVANA 13, 1947 (SAKA)

## TRANSFER OF BLACK MONEY TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES

## 2345. SHRI ANTO ANTONY

Will the Minister of Finance be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  noticed  that  the  black  money  is  being  transferred  through different banks to different foreign countries to evade income tax;
- (b) if  so,  the details thereof including the amount transferred by different banks during the last five years, year-wise and bank-wise; and
- (c) the steps taken by the Government to stop such transactions?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR FINANCE (SHRIPANKAJ CHAUDHARY)

(a) and (b)  The  Income-tax  Act,  1961  mandates  deduction  of  tax  at  source  under  section  195  read with Rule 37BB of the Income-tax Rules, 1962, at the time of making remittances abroad. Every such remittance  is  required  to  be  accompanied  by  self-declaration  in  Form  15CA  from  the  person responsible  for  paying  to  the  non-resident  and  a  certificate  from  a  Chartered  Accountant  in  Form 15CB, certifying that he has examined relevant agreement / documents. The authorized dealer is also required to submit quarterly statement in Form 15CC in respect of remittances made.

Further, to enhance the monitoring of outbound remittances, Tax Collected at Source (TCS) on foreign remittances under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) was introduced by the Finance Act, 2020 and has been in effect since October 1, 2020. These measures improve financial discipline and provide the Government with greater visibility into the flow of funds abroad through formal banking channels.

In cases where the remittance of tax-evaded income or black money is detected, appropriate action is taken by the Income Tax Department. Such actions include searches, surveys, inquiries, assessments, levy of taxes, penalties, and prosecution in criminal courts, wherever applicable.

However,  data  regarding  all  such  cases  and  the  amount  of  money  sent  abroad  in  each  case  is  not maintained centrally.

(c)   The  Government  has  taken  several  measures  to  effectively  tackle  instances  of  transfer  of  tax evaded  income  to  foreign  countries  through  banks.  These  measures  include  policy-level  initiatives, effective  enforcement  actions  on  the  ground,  putting  in  place  robust  legislative  and  administrative frameworks,  systems  and  processes  with  due  focus  on  capacity  building  and  data  integration  and mining through increasing use of information technology. Steps taken by the Government to stop such transactions are detailed as below:

(i) Black  Money  (Undisclosed  Foreign  Income  and  Assets)  and  Imposition  of  Tax  Act,  2015 which has come into force w.e.f. 01.07.2015 has been enacted to specifically and effectively deal with the issue of black money stashed abroad.

(ii) Special  Investigation  Team  (SIT)  on  Black  Money  under  the  Chairmanship  and  ViceChairmanship of two former Judges of the Hon'ble Supreme Court was constituted in May 2014, to coordinate  policy  and investigation across agencies  in matters related to foreign stashing of unaccounted monies.

(iii) The Government has taken pro-active and effective steps whenever any credible information has been received with regard to black money abroad, whether in HSBC cases, ICIJ cases, Paradise Papers or Panama Papers. These steps include constitution of Multi-Agency Group in relevant cases, calling  for  definite  information  from  foreign  jurisdictions,  bringing  the  black  money  to  tax  under relevant law, launching prosecutions against the offenders etc.

(iv) The Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 has been enacted to provide for attachment and confiscation of the proceeds of crime associated with scheduled economic offences and the properties of  the  fugitive  economic  offenders  and  deter  them  from  evading  the  process  of  Indian  law  by remaining outside the jurisdiction of Indian Courts.

(v) The  Government  of  India  has  been  proactively  engaging  with  foreign  governments,  for exchange  of  information,  and  has  entered  into  tax  treaties  including  Double  Taxation  Avoidance Agreements, Tax Information Exchange  Agreements,  the Multilateral Convention on  Mutual Administrative  Assistance  in  Tax  Matters  and  the  SAARC  Multilateral  Agreement,  with  other countries  which  provide  for  mutual  administrative  assistance  including  exchange  of  information concerning taxes.

(vi) India has also joined the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) based on the Common Reporting Standard and receives financial account information of Indian residents in other countries with  which  the  AEOI  relationship  is  activated.  India  has  also  entered  into  an  Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) with USA in 2015 for sharing of financial account information on automatic basis.

(vii) Effective  enforcement  actions  have  been  undertaken  including  expeditious  investigation  in foreign assets cases on the basis of information received under Automatic Exchange of Information. Such actions include searches, surveys, enquiries, assessment of income, levy of taxes, penalties, etc. and filing of prosecution in criminal courts, wherever applicable.

(viii) Extensive use of information technology and data analytics tools for identification of high-risk cases, expeditious e-verification of suspect cases and consequential enforcement actions in appropriate cases have been undertaken.

(ix) The Government has brought in a large number of legislative provisions in the Income Tax Act, 1961 to effectively tackle the menace of black money.

(x) The Government has mandated the linking of Aadhaar with PAN, which will not only help in de-duplication of PAN but will also prevent potential tax frauds.

(xi) The  NUDGE  (Non-Intrusive  Usage  of  Data  to  Guide  and  Enable)  Taxpayers  Campaign  was launched  by  the  Income  Tax  Department  in  November  2024  to  improve  taxpayers'  voluntary compliance for declaration of foreign income and assets. Under the campaign, informational messages were sent via SMS and email to selected resident taxpayers in respect of whom information has been received under the Automatic Exchange of Information that they are holding foreign assets and/ or having  income  from  foreign  sources,  to  accurately  report  foreign  assets  and  income  from  foreign sources  in  their  Income  Tax  Returns.  Total  of  24,678  taxpayers  reported  their  foreign  assets  and income in revised ITRs for AY 2024-25, while 5,483 taxpayers filed belated returns reporting foreign assets worth ₹29,208 crore and foreign income of ₹1,089.88 crore .

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