Press Information Bureau 
Government of India
Ministry of Women and Child Development
02 AUG 2018

The WCD Ministry has requested Ministry of Finance for amendment to section 64 of the Income Tax Act,1961: WCD Minister

The Ministry of Women and Child Development has also requested Ministry of Finance for amendment to section 64 of the Income Tax Act,1961 for not including income arising from the asset transferred for inadequate consideration by an individual to his wife or son’s wife.

As informed by the Central Board of Direct Tax (CBDT), Department of Revenue, under the existing provisions of the Income Tax Act,1961, any sum of money received by a person without consideration is liable for taxation if the aggregate value of such sum exceeds Rs.50,000. Similar provisions exist for taxation of receipt of an immovable property or specified property without consideration or inadequate consideration. However, these provisions are not applicable to receipts of any sum/ immovable property/specified property by an individual from following relatives:-

(i)            spouse of the individual;

(ii)           brother or sister of the individual;

(iii)           brother or sister of the spouse of the individual;

(iv)          brother or sister of either of the parents of the individual;

(v)           any lineal ascendant or descendant of the individual;

(vi)          any lineal ascendant or descendant of the spouse of the individual;

(vii)         spouse of the person referred to in (ii) to (vi) above.

Therefore, receipt by women of any sum/immovable property/specified property without/inadequate consideration from the relatives under the existing provisions of the Income tax Act, 1961 are not taxable.

The above Information was given by Minister of State for Women and Child Development, Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi in reply to an Starred Question in the Rajya Sabha, today.

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NB/PS

 

Ministry of Finance

Notices for assessment/reassessment of income of old cases

Dated: 03 AUG 2018

Under the provisions of Income-tax Act, 1961 (‘Act’), notices for assessment/reassessment of income of old cases of more than six years from the end of the relevant assessment year can be issued only in the following exceptional situations:

i. Under clause (c) of sub-section (1) of section 149 of the Act, in cases where income in relation to any asset (including financial interest in any entity) located outside India, chargeable to tax, has escaped assessment, such cases can be reopened up to sixteen years from end of the relevant assessment year. Information regarding number of cases in which notices were issued under the said provision six years from the end of the relevant assessment year, as provided by the Directorate of System, is as under:

During Financial Years	No. of cases in which notices were issued beyond six years
2014-15	82
2015-16	17
2016-17	5
2017-18	7

ii. In cases where tangible evidences are found during a search or seizure operation revealing that income exceeding rupees fifty lakh has escaped assessment, then assessment can be framed for an assessment year falling between the seventh upto the tenth assessment year. This provision was introduced vide Finance Act, 2017 and applies where search under section 132 of the Act is initiated or requisition under section 132A of the Act is made on or after 1st April, 2017.

Further, Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, which taxes the undisclosed foreign income and assets of earlier years in the year of issuing notice has been made applicable from 1st April, 2016.

If any specific instance of causing undue harassment to the assessee while invoking the above provisions is detected, the same is dealt with strictly by the Department.

The Act contains a specific chapter XIX-A consisting of section 245A to 245M, inserted by the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Act, 1975, w.e.f. 01.04.1976 for ‘SETTLEMENT OF CASES’. In this regard, Settlement Commission which is a quasi-judicial body, was set up under section 245B of the Act. The objective of setting up of Settlement Commission is to settle tax liabilities in complicated cases avoiding endless and prolonged litigation and consequential strain on investigational resources of Income-tax Department, subject to fulfilment of conditions prescribed therein.

Further, in recent years, Government had introduced following laws/schemes to deal with undisclosed income/asset:

(i) A one-time compliance window between the period 1st July, 2015 to 30th September, 2015, for disclosing any undeclared foreign asset acquired from income chargeable to tax under Income tax Act for any assessment year prior to 2016-17 was provided;

(ii) The Income Declaration Scheme, 2016 provided an opportunity to any person to make a declaration between the period 1st June, 2016 to 30th September, 2016, in respect of any income chargeable to tax under the Income tax Act for any assessment year prior to 2017-18;

(iii) Under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, 2016, between 17th December, 2016 till 31st March, 2016, a declarant could make a declaration in respect of any income, in the form of cash or deposit in an account maintained by the person with a specified entity, chargeable to tax under the Income tax Act for any assessment year prior to 2017-18.

(iv) Section 270AA of the Act, inserted by the Finance Act, 2016 w.e.f. 1st April, 2017, provides immunity from penalty under section 270A and initiation of prosecution proceedings under section 276C or 276CC, subject to fulfilment of conditions prescribed therein.

No instructions have been issued to the IT Department to open special counters to settle their cases by imposing minor penalties.

This was stated by Shri Shiv Pratap Shukla, Minister of State for Finance in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

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DSM/RM/KA

(Release ID: 1541579) 

 

Press Information Bureau 
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
31 JUL 2018

Unearthing of Black Money

The Income-tax Department (ITD) takes appropriate action against black money which is an on-going process.  Such action under the Direct Tax laws includes searches, surveys, enquiries, assessment of income, levy of penalties and filing of prosecution complaints before criminal courts, wherever applicable. 

Moreover, recognizing the limitations of the Income-tax Act, 1961 etc. in dealing with black money stashed abroad, the Government of India enacted a comprehensive and a more stringent new law namely ‘The Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015’ that has come into force w.e.f. 01.07.2015. It provides for separate taxation of undisclosed foreign income and assets. Most importantly, apart from providing more stringent provisions for penalty and prosecution, for the first time, this law has included the offence of wilful attempt to evade tax etc. in relation to undisclosed foreign income/assets as a Scheduled Offence under the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA). 

The details of prosecution proceedings initiated by the ITD under the relevant provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961, during the last three F.Y.s are as under:- 

Financial Year	No. of cases in which prosecution complaints filed	Cases compounded	No. of persons convicted
1	2	4	5
2015-16	552	1019	28
2016-17	1252	1208	16
2017-18	4527	1621	68

The details of search & seizure and surveys conducted by the Income Tax Department in the last three F.Y.s are as under: 

Search and seizure:

Financial Year	Number of groups searched	Total assets seized (In Rs. crore)	Undisclosed income admitted u/s 132(4) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 [in Rs. crore]
2015-16	447	712.32	11226
2016-17	1152	1469.62	15497
2017-18*	581	997.17	15755

*Figures are provisional

Surveys:

Financial Year	No. of surveys conducted	Undisclosed income detected (in Rs. crore)
2015-16	4428	9700
2016-17	12520	13690
2017-18	13547	9638

This was stated by Shri Shiv Pratap Shukla, Minister of State for Finance in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.

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DSM/RM/KA

 

 

Click here to read and download Notification No. 34/2018 dated 25.07.2018

 

F.No. 225/242/2018/ITA.II

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

Department of Revenue

Central Board of Direct Taxes (ITA.II division)

North-Block, New Delhi, the 26^th July, 2018

Order under Section 119 of the Income-tax Act, 1961

For certain categories of taxpayers, the 'due-date' of filing income-tax return for assessment-year 2018-2019 is 31.07.2018. Upon consideration of the matter, the Central Board of Direct Taxes, in exercise of its powers under section 119 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 ('Act'), hereby, extends the 'due-date' of filing income-tax return, as prescribed in section 139(1) of the Act, from 31^st July, 2018 to 31^st August, 2018.