Legitimise your undisclosed income by paying 45% tax by November 30, warns FM Jaitley

NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has urged those holding unaccounted income to come clean under the Income Declaration Scheme, 2016, reiterating that their declarations will not be shared with investigating agencies or made public.

“Any declaration made under the Income Declaration Scheme is confidential. It won't be shared with any other authorities,“ said Jaitley, after a meeting with Chambers of Commerce & Association of professionals called to discuss the scheme that opened on June 1.

The FM ruled out any extension of the scheme that was announced in the budget to give one last chance for evaders to come clean. Those declaring income under this scheme that closes on September 30 will have to pay 30% tax plus a penalty of 7.5% and a similar 7.5% surcharge, adding up to a total tax of 45%.

“People who have (undisclosed) income and have stayed outside the income tax net, this is the last chance to declare them and sleep peacefully,“ FM told reporters warning of serious “consequences“ for those not coming clean.

“That information is not to be shared with any other authority .It won't be made public, it won't be shared with anybody .“

Those declaring income under the scheme have to pay tax by November 30. The government had last year offered a similar scheme to Indians who had undisclosed assets over seas. A total of `4,147 crore of undisclosed wealth was declared under this scheme.

The assets declared under the scheme will not be subject to wealth tax, there will not be any further scrutiny under any other act, and will have immunity from prosecution under income tax and benami property law. In his `Mann Ki Baat' last Sunday , Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged people to declare undisclosed income under the scheme.

Tuesday's meeting was also attended by Commerce and In dustry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Minister of State in PMO Jitender Singh, as part of government's plan to give a big publicity boost to the scheme.

“We are taking this as a campaign, on a mission mode and the professional bodies and trade organisations, we have taken their suggestions. We will come out with a third FAQ. We expect that anyone who has such income, they disclose it, and legitimise their income and assets,“ the FM said.

The I-T department had come out with a second set of clarifications on the scheme in form of frequently asked questions (FAQ) on Monday and based on inputs from Tuesday's meeting will add more clarifications.