Income tax payer in for shock as govt wants to know more in new tax form -Governance Now

Income tax payer in for shock as govt wants to know more in new tax form

New income tax returns form wants details of foreign travels

GN Bureau | April 18, 2015

#black money #income tax #foreign travel #bank accounts

In pursuit of black money, the government is hauling up ordinary tax payers and seeking additional details in the new income tax return (ITR) form for assessment year 2015-16. This will be applicable to financial year 2014-15, for which returns have to be filed by July-end.

The new form asks for all bank accounts details regardless of whether they hold a minimum balance or lots of cash, instead of only salary account details.

It also wants detailed account of your foreign travel made last year (2014-15). Among the details are passport number, the number of trips made, the countries visited, and the personal expenses incurred on personal account. When there is hue and cry over retrospective tax demand, this clause on foreign travel details from last year is nothing but harassment.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley has promised an end to “tax terrorism” like arbitrary tax demands, especially those applied retrospectively. But the details sought about foreign trip are tax terrorism.

The new tax forms will seek information about the capital gains accrued through trading activity, with a detailed break-up of the long-term capital gains, short-term capital gains and tax rate. Stock market trading details are bought, so is agriculture income.

Once you give those details, the taxman will have endless opportunities to harass a person.

Meanwhile, Jaitley has sought urgent implementation of common reporting standards on automatic exchange of information globally, asserting that it is the only way to tackle the challenges posed by black money.

The problem of offshore tax evasion and flow of illicit money can be addressed only by the free flow of financial account information exchanged among countries on an automatic basis, Jaitley said in his intervention on ‘International Tax Issues’ during the annual Spring Meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington.

“We strongly feel that there is a need to ensure that the Common Reporting Standards on Automatic Exchange of Information should be implemented on a fully reciprocal global basis and those countries which have not yet committed to the timeline of 2017 or 2018 should do it without any further delay,” he said.

Income Tax Rules: Click Here

Comments

Other News

Climate actions being implemented to deal with impact of heat waves

India’s climate actions cut across various sectors and are being implemented through various programs and schemes of different union ministries, departments and state/ union territory governments. The government of India through concerned ministries and departments organises workshops, exhibiti

Banks must hear borrowers before declaring their accounts as frauds: SC

In a judgment with far-reaching implications, the Supreme Court has held that the civil consequences of an account being declared as fraud under the Reserve Bank of India (Frauds Classification and Reporting by Commercial Banks and Select FIs) Directions, 2016 or its Master Directions on Fraud amount to ci

India’s forest cover increases by 5,516 sq km in four years

The Dehradun-based Forest Survey of India (FSI), an organization under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, carries out the assessment of forest cover biennially since 1987 and the findings are published in the India State of Forest Report (ISFR). As per the latest ISFR 2021, there is a

Steps taken to meet higher power demand of April-May

While the average growth of energy requirement in the country for 2023-24 viz-a-viz 2022-23 has been estimated as 4.9%, the months of April and May have been projected as high demand period. During the current year, the peak demand is expected to be around 229 GW during the summer period. The government ha

Millets to make comeback in army ration after half a century

As the UN has declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets, the Indian Army has steered introduction of millets flour in the rations of soldiers. This landmark decision will ensure troops are supplied with native and traditional grains after over half a century, when these were discontinued in favour

Central Bank Digital Currency has game-changing potential

When discussing digital currency, you might think of one or two well-known varieties. There is the digital representation of currency that you access with mobile and online banking services. This currency is the liability of a commercial bank. There is also cryptocurrency, a digital medium of exchange issu