Tax dept unearths Rs 56,378 crore undisclosed income in searches

New Delhi: The Income Tax department has unearthed undisclosed income of Rs 56,378 crore during search operations conducted over two years time and seized cash of about Rs 2,000 crore.

Giving details of the steps taken by the government since coming to power in May 2014, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said with IT upgradation the CBDT has been able to recover Rs 16,000 crore from non-filers of tax returns.

Also the government had constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money and have been implementing its recommendations, including mandatory PAN quoting for transaction above a certain threshold.

Jaitley said the government is taking steps to deal with the names that have appeared in the Panama Papers as well as the HSBC list.

"In Panama cases, 250 references have been given to other countries and investigation is progressing in good pace. People who figured in the HSBC list, about Rs 8,000 crore assessment have been completed. 164 prosecutions have been filed," he said.

The names which ICIJ had released, in that about Rs 5,000 crore detection has happened and 55 cases prosecution have been filed.

Earlier this year, the Panama Papers leaks named 500 people including film actors and industrialists who have allegedly stashed money in offshore entities. Besides, in 2013 the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists had published a list of 700 persons having offshore accounts. 

Jaitley said the government has put in place the legal framework, including making tax crimes predicate offence under PMLA, amendment of FEMA to provide for confiscation of domestic assets in place of foreign assets, enactment of foreign black money law and amendment to Benami Act, for tackling black money menace.

Also India has signed FATCA with the US and amended the Mauritius Treaty and took initiatives to amend the Automatic Exchange of Information Treaty with all major countries including Switzerland.

Initiatives under BEPS (Based Erosion and Profit Sharing) such as country by country reporting, PoEM ( Place of Effective Management) etc were also taken in the past two years time, he added.