“It (keeping undisclosed income) has become a virtually prohibitive route,” said Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia on Monday after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley tabled the Taxation Laws (Second Amendment) Bill, 2016.
Urging people with unaccounted income to pay tax and penalty or use the proposed scheme Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana 2016, he said at a media briefing, “Use this scheme now as the government may take more steps against black money later.”
PMGKY will be notified after the Bill is passed by Parliament and receives Presidential Assent. The last date for the scheme is likely to be December 30, 2016.
Adhia said the amendments have been introduced after the government's decision to demonetise ₹ 500 and ₹ 1,000 notes and check people who may be trying to conceal their black money.
Income-tax officials, however, stressed that deposits up to ₹ 2.5 lakh will be free from scrutiny. They however, warned that the department will use its IT system to profile all information from banks over deposits in the 50-day period to deposit old currency notes.
“It will be matched with the PAN and risk profiling will be done,” said Sushil Chandra, Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes, while stressing that the department will not be hampered in this due to a lack of manpower.