black money

Mauritius Treaty - A Joint Working Group (JWG) was constituted in 2006 for the purpose of renegotiating the Direct Taxation Avoidance Convention with Mauritius and its last meeting was held in 2008. Thereafter, India has successfully used the mechanism of the Peer Review Group (PRG) of the Global Forum for Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes – of which India is Vice Chair – to leverage arguments with the Mauritian side to be more open in furnis.. Full Article

The Swiss Parliament today gave approval to amendments to tax treaties with countries, including India, making it easier for to access information about the illegal funds held by their nationals in Swiss private banks. The upper house of the Swiss Parliament endorsed amendments to double-taxation agreements in line with internationally applicable standards. Full Article

The government can do without making tax evasion a criminal offence as the existing income tax laws , which provide for rigorous imprisonment up to seven years for willful default, has not been used effectively to unearth black money , say experts . ,One can be jailed for seven years (rigorous imprisonment ) for willful evasion of tax (above Rs.1 lakh). Full Article

The High Level Committee constituted by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, in its first meeting held today, decided to seek public comments on ways to unearth black money. The Committee, headed by CBDT Chairman Prakash Chandra, was set up last month to examine ways to strengthen laws to curb generation of black money in India, its illegal transfer abroad and its recovery. Full Article

Facing flak from civil society for not doing enough to deal with the menace of black money, the government today announced setting up of another panel to suggest ways to trace tax defaulters, reveal their identity to the public and recover taxes. The committee, set up by Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in the Finance Ministry, will also look into the possibility of putting the list of "chronic defaulters" in public domain. Full Article

Delays in action against black money by way of committees and studies will give time to corrupt politicians, businessmen and bureaucrats to divert their ill-gotten funds into shell companies, an eminent JNU professor has said. More studies or committees or new special investigating wing and treaties with foreign governments are only to stall action, said Arun Kumar, the head of the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning in Jawaharlal Nehru University. Full Article

The CBDT chairman-headed committee, set up to strengthen ways to curb black money in the country, is likely to hold its first meeting on June 9. The meeting, which comes in the backdrop of the agitation led by Yoga guru Baba Ramdev, will begin with discussions and modalities on a number of issues related to [...] Full Article

The government today said the series of steps taken by it to unearth unaccounted wealth have started yielding results. The income tax department, sources said, has detected unaccounted income of Rs 18,750 crore in the last two financial years and collected an additional Rs 22,697 crore as taxes by stepping up vigil on cross border transactions. Full Article