GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF FINANCE
LOK SABHA
STARRED QUESTION NO 433
ANSWERED ON: 16.12.2016
ANANT KUMAR DATTATREYA HEGDE
Will the Minister of be pleased to state
(a) whether the Government has made any assessment/estimation of the total amount of black money before/after implementation of the demonetisation in the country and if so, the details thereof;
(b) the number of cases of disclosure of income with various agencies;
(c) the amount of undeclared income involved and the present status of such cases; and
(d) the steps taken by the Government for expeditious disposal of said cases?
ANSWER
ANSWER
FINANCE MINISTER
(SHRI ARUN JAITLEY)
(a) to (d): A statement is laid on the table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.*433, RAISED BY SHRI ANANTKUMAR HEGDE, HON’BLE MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, FOR REPLY ON 16TH DECEMBER, 2016
There is no official estimation of the amount of black money either before or after the Government’s decision of 8th November 2016 declaring that bank notes of denominations of the existing series of the value of five hundred rupees and one thousand rupees shall cease to be legal tender with effect from 9th November 2016.
The searches conducted by the Income Tax Department during the period 01.04.2014 to 30.11.2016, in 1356 groups of assessees led to admission of undisclosed income of Rs.31,277 crore apart from seizure of undisclosed assets worth Rs.2,164 crore. Besides, 14,044 surveys conducted during the same period, resulted in detection of undisclosed income of Rs.30,492 crore. Further, during the period 01.04.2014 to 31.10.2016, the Income Tax Department filed 1544 prosecution complaints before criminal courts, besides compounding of offences in 2323 cases. 75 persons were convicted by trial courts for offences under direct taxes during the same period.
648 disclosures involving undisclosed foreign assets worth Rs.4164 crore, were made in the one-time three months’ compliance window closed on 30th September 2015, under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015. The amount collected by way of tax and penalty in such cases was about Rs.2476 crore. Further, under the Income Declaration Scheme, implemented by the Government during June to September 2016, 71,726 declarants made declarations of undisclosed income of Rs. 67,382 crore.
Whenever a case of undisclosed income/asset is detected, the Income Tax Department takes necessary action under provisions of direct taxes laws which include investigation, assessment of income, levy of tax, interest & penalty and filing of prosecution complaints before criminal courts, wherever applicable. Other law enforcement agencies such as Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation, etc. also take action under laws administered through them, in relevant cases, depending upon facts of each case. The Government has taken several steps, both by way of policy initiatives as well as through more effective enforcement action on the ground, to more effectively tackle the issue of black money. These steps include putting in place robust legislative and administrative frame works, systems and processes with due focus on capacity building and integration of information and its mining through increasing use of information technology.