Black money window: FM Jaitley to meet industry chambers, CAs

Black money window: FM Jaitley to meet industry chambers, CAs

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will meet industry chambers, Chartered Accountants, and other professionals over the four-month window provided to holders of undeclared wealth to come clean.

According to reports, the Finance Minister will clear doubts about the four-month window provided to domestic blackmoney holders to pay their taxes and escape harsher penalties.

The Income Tax Department has already adopted a four-pronged strategy to ensure success of the scheme.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier warned the black money holders to take advantage of the scheme or face action.

This comes after the Prime Minister during his 'Mann ki Baat' address asked people to declare their undisclosed income by September 30, making it clear that this is the last chance to avoid problems that will follow after the window of opportunity closes.

"It will be better that you take advantage of the window provided and save yourself from the difficulties that you can face after September 30," he said.

Read more

Panama Papers: From Amitabh Bachchan to Adani's brother, names of 500 Indians leaked

Bollywood mega-star Amitabh Bachchan's (pictured) name has been mentioned in the leaked files

What do Bollywood superstars Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, DLF owner K P Singh and Gautam Adani’s elder brother Vinod Adani have in common?

According to a report in The Indian Express on Monday, these names, among 500 others, figure on a Panama law firm's list of Indians who have setup offshore companies in tax havens through the firm's services.

A huge data leak at Panamanian firm Mossack Fonsecahas revealed that it hid billions of dollars in assets of global politicians, sports stars and entertainers.

The files, called the "Panama Papers" and comprising over 11 million documents from the firm, have revealed names which will shock many.

The problems for Mossack Fonseca, a hitherto unheard of name for the vast majority of Indians and people the world over, began when 2.6 terabyte worth of its confidential data was leak to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

According to the ICIJ, the consortium, together with the German newspaperSuddeutsche Zeitungand more than 100 other media partners, conducted the investigation into the papers over a period of a year.

The conclusion: Information on more than 214,000 offshore companies connected to people in more than 200 countries and territories unearthed.

But what exactly does being an Indian on the list entail?

The Indian Express, a partner in the investigation called "Project Prometheus", explains: "Some of the Indians floated offshore entities at a time when laws did not allow them to do so; some have taken a technically convenient view that companies acquired is not the same as companies incorporated; some have bunched their annual quota of remittances to subscribe to shares in an offshore entity acquired at an earlier date. Still, some others have received income earned abroad and deposited it in the entity to avoid tax. Some have opened a bank account to keep payoffs in government contracts, or held “proceeds of crime” or property bought with money made illegally in Trusts/ Foundations."

The report suggests that many of the Indians, featured in this Panama Leaksand who set up these offshore entities prior to 2013, are likely in violation of the Reserve Bank of India's Liberalised Remittance Scheme — introduced in February 2004.Read More.