Noting that the rate of taxation in the country is much less as compared to other developed countries, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday urged people to come forward and declare their unassessed income under the new Income Declaration Scheme.
Jaitley, who met representatives of trade and industry associations including CII, FICCI and Assocham and professional bodies such as Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and Institute of Company Secretaries of India to publicise the new compliance window for domestic black money, also announced that the Finance Ministry would issue a fresh set of clarifications on the scheme.
The IDS provides a four-month compliance window between June 1 and September 30 to people with undisclosed income in the country to come clean by paying tax, penalty and surcharge of 45 per cent of fair market value.
Senior Cabinet Ministers including Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal and Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan also attended the meeting to ensure that the scheme is taken up on a mission mode.
Minister of State of Finance Jayant Sinha and Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia were also present for the meeting along with senior officials from the Central Board of Direct Taxes.
Complete confidentiality Jaitley assured complete confidentiality to those declaring their income under the scheme. “No source will be asked and no further proceedings will be initiated. This is the last opportunity to declare unassessed income,” he said, adding that the CBDT will issue further clarifications based on questions raised at the meeting.
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people to use this window and legitimise their unassessed income, Union Ministers will also now be a part of the campaign.
Jaitley said that the Revenue Department and tax officials will also hold meetings with assessees and stakeholders on the scheme’s features across the country.