High net worth assesees with income of over ₹50 lakh annually and owning assets such as land, building, yachts, aircraft or bullion will now be expected to disclose these in their income tax returns.
These changes are part of the new Income Tax Return forms 2016-17 that have been notified by the Finance Ministry. Tax returns for last fiscal can be filed from today with the start of the new financial year 2016-17 till January 31.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes has introduced a new reporting column in the ITR-2 and ITR-2A for disclosing assets and liabilities at the end of the year. Individuals and entities coming under this income bracket will also have to mention the total cost of such assets.
The move is expected to help the tax officials keep a closer eye on tax evaders and check black money.
Assets to be declared would include immoveable assets such as land and building as well as moveable assets like cash in hand, jewellery, bullion, aircraft, yachts, vehicles and boats.
So, while immovable assets like land and building have to be furnished under the new ITR regime, movable assets like cash in hand, jewellery, bullion, vehicles, yachts, boats and aircraft will also have to be disclosed to the taxman. The liabilities to be reported would be in relation to these assets.
Many tax experts view the new disclosures as a follow up to the reporting under the earlier wealth tax.
Welcoming the threshold for disclosure of assets, Tapati Ghose, Partner, Deloitte said, “Individuals are likely to face a challenge in determining cost for gifted assets (such as jewellery), inherited assets and for assets purchased several years earlier where records have not been retained.”
Meanwhile, with start-ups now getting government backing, ITR 2A, which is to be filled by individuals and HUFs who do not have income from either business, profession or by way of capital gains and do not hold foreign assets, has a new column for Pass Through Income.
The column seeks details of “income from business trust or investment fund as per section 115UA, 115UB” of the Income Tax Act, which deal with investments made in a venture capital company.
Meanwhile, the CBDT has also extended the applicability of Form Sugam or ITR 4-S to a firm, other than a limited liability partnership. The form was earlier meant for only those individual and HUF that derive business income which is computed under presumptive tax.
Online rectification Meanwhile, the CBDT on Friday also said that taxpayers should opt for online rectification of mistakes in income tax returns and records.
“Taxpayers who are not satisfied with the outcome of processing of their Income Tax Return by the Centralised Processing Centre, Bengaluru can avail of the facility of online filing and tracking of rectification requests,” it said in a release.
The Tax Department has processed over 6.53 lakh online rectification applications in 2015-16.