Income Tax authorities have uncovered more than £1.30 billion from just two sets of information received in 2011 and 2013, in a favourable outcome of the government's crackdown on undeclared income in overseas bank accounts.
In at least 400 cases of Indians with deposits in HSBC, Geneva, income tax authorities unearthed undisclosed income of £818.6 million, the highest disclosure ever from offshore bank accounts, and raised a tax demand of about £537.7 million against such account-holders till March 31, 2016, as per an IT assessment report. The government had received information about 628 bank accounts, out of which, 213 were found "not actionable" as they either had no money in them or they belonged to non-resident Indians. The report read, "Out of the actionable cases, assessments have been completed in 398 cases, including those settled by the IT Settlement Commission as well as cases where assessment proceedings have been dropped."
Another set of disclosed information from 2013, on the website of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists said IT officials have detected undisclosed income of £500 million in foreign bank accounts allegedly linked to 700 Indians.
The IT department has filed 55 prosecution complaints before criminal courts in the ICIJ cases on charges of wilful attempt to evade tax, until now. The basis has been false statements made by these entities during the verification process. In the case of HSBC Geneva, tax authorities have launched prosecution proceedings in 75 cases, a majority for wilful attempt to evade tax. Criminal courts have taken cognisance in most of the prosecution complaint cases, paving the way for the Enforcement Directorate to initiate actions under the stringent Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The recently enacted Black Money Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets Act has made the "wilful attempt to evade tax" as a predicate offence under the PMLA, giving the ED powers to attach and confiscate properties of an accused equivalent to the amount stashed abroad.
Indians whose names appeared in the ICIJ cases, had filed declarations under the black money declaration window scheme, which the government had launched for a limited period during 2015. However, they were not eligible for any relief as the department had already launched probe against them.
