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No official estimate of black money stashed in Swiss banks: Centre tells Parliament

The issue of black money has been raised in Parliament once again after a long time. Congress MP Vincent H Pala has asked the government in Parliament whether it would reveal how much black money has been deposited in Swiss banks in the last 10 years. The MP also asked what steps has the government taken to bring back black money from abroad, how many people have been arrested and how many people have been charge-sheeted in the matter. And how much black money is going to come to India and from whom and from where it will come.

The answer to this question was given by the Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary. He informed that there is no official estimate of the amount of black money deposited in Swiss banks in the last 10 years. However, he added that the government has taken several steps in recent years to bring back black money stashed abroad.

The government came up with ‘The Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015’, which came into effect from 1 July 2017. This law effectively deals with the cases of money deposited abroad. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed on black money. The chairman and vice-chairman are retired judges of the Supreme Court. The government is working closely with other governments, sharing information under Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAA)/Tax Information Exchange Agreements. Apart from this, an agreement has also been signed with America. An information share agreement has been made with the US under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.

The government said that 107 complaints have been registered under the Black Money Act. Under Section 10(3)/10(4) of the Black Money Act, assessment orders have been issued in 166 cases till 31 May 2021, in which Rs 8,216 crore has been recovered. Apart from this, tax and penalty have been imposed on the undisclosed income of about Rs 8,465 crore in the HSBC case, which is Rs 1294 crore. Undisclosed income of Rs 11,010 crore has been detected in the ICIJ (International Consortium of Investigative Journalists) case, while an undisclosed income of Rs 20,078 crore has been detected in the Panama Papers leak case. Similarly, an undisclosed amount of Rs 246 crore has been detected in the Paradise Papers leak case.

Source: dnaindia.com