Saturday 10 December 2016

BLACK MONEY....

Advantage:-

The Bill provides for stringent measures against violations; this includes property confiscation

The Bill also provides deterrent through 10 years RI for tax evasion and penalty of 300 percent of taxes on concealed income and assets

Moreover, the flat rate of 30 percent is taxed on undisclosed foreign income while there is no exemption against this under the IT Act 1961

Magnitude of deterrent is also high. Concealment of income pertaining to foreign assets will be charged with penalty three times the amount of tax over and above the flat rate 

Inaction or failure to file returns with inadequate disclosure of foreign assets is also punishable by law under this Bill

The Bill also makes concealment of income and evasion of tax pertaining to foreign asset a predicate offence which will allow enforcement agencies to attach and confiscate accounted assets held abroad

Computation of tax liability on overseas property will be on the basis of current prices and not price required; this is a fair assessment 

The Bill also provides a compliance window for those who want to disclose their foreign income/assets stashed abroad

The Black Money Bill will also put an end to fake transactions, tax evasion and undeclared possession of property abroad using tax payer’s money

Disadvantages:-

Procedure to bring back Black Money has not been indicated in the Bill; it only prescribes punishment for those caught with black money or compliance window for those who voluntarily disclose their money/assets stashed abroad . More stringent laws are needed to punish the practice of stashing black money. 

Bill also does not address issues such as DTAA/Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement coming in the way of black money detection

Bill is based on the premise that foreign assets and accounts are the principal source of black money; Global Financial Integrity estimates black money outside India to be only INR 28 lakh crore

Domestic black money is a much bigger number and a larger problem; Black money stashed abroad is also brought back to India through round tripping of FDI via investment havens so domestic black money is much more 

The Bill also fails to provide a mechanism to retrieve information regarding the defaulters which has agreements with foreign governments

Domestic laws and international treaty obligations blocking the detection of black money are also not addressed in the Bill

The Bill also provides excessive powers to tax authorities without looking at the failure of tax administration in the nation. This includes assessing officers, ED, CBDT and others

The Bill is not part of a holistic strategy to control the generation of black money

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