Income Tax Return: Income Tax Department has warned the taxpayers that they must provide this information in the Income Tax Return (ITR) in Assessment Year 25.
Income Tax Return: There is big news for income taxpayers. If you do not disclose your foreign assets and income in the Income Tax Return (ITR) filing, then you may have to pay a heavy price for it. In fact, the Income Tax Department has warned taxpayers that if they do not disclose their assets located abroad or income earned abroad in the ITR, then they may be fined Rs 10 lakh under the Anti-Black Money Law.
The Income Tax Department on Saturday issued a public consultation under the recently launched ‘Compliance cum Awareness Programme’ to ensure that taxpayers enter such information in their Income Tax Returns (ITR) for the assessment year 2024-25.
This information has to be given
The advisory clarifies that foreign assets for a tax resident of India in the previous year include bank accounts, cash value insurance contracts or annuity contracts, financial interest in an entity or business, immovable property, custodian account, equity and debt interests, trusts in which the person is a trustee, beneficiary of the settler, accounts with signature authority, any capital asset held abroad, etc.
The department said that taxpayers falling under this criterion must ‘mandatorily’ fill the Foreign Asset (FA) or Income from Foreign Source (FSI) schedule in their ITR, even if their income is “below the taxable limit” or the assets abroad have been acquired from ‘disclosed sources’.
A penalty of up to Rs 10 lakh can be imposed
According to the consultation, “Non-disclosure of foreign assets/income in ITR may attract a penalty of Rs 10 lakh under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the administrative body for the tax department, had said that under the campaign, it will send ‘informational’ SMS and emails to resident taxpayers who have already filed their ITR for the assessment year 2024-25.
December 31 is the last date
This communication will be sent to individuals who have been ‘identified’ through information received under bilateral and multilateral agreements which ‘suggest’ that these individuals may hold foreign accounts or assets, or have received income from foreign jurisdictions. The last date for filing late and revised ITR is December 31.
