(1) This Act may be called the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015.
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—
(1) There shall be charged on every assessee for every assessment year commencing on or after the 1st day of April, 2016, subject to the provisions of this Act, a tax in respect of his total undisclosed foreign income and asset of the previous year at the rate of thirty per cent. of such undisclosed income and asset:
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the total undisclosed foreign income and asset of any previous year of an assessee shall be,—
(1) In computing the total undisclosed foreign income and asset of any previous year of an assessee,—
(1) The income-tax authorities specified in Section 116 of the Income-tax Act shall be the tax authorities for the purposes of this Act.
(1) The tax authority who succeeds another authority as a result of change in jurisdiction or for any other reason, shall continue the proceedings from the stage at which it was left by his predecessor.
(1) The prescribed tax authorities shall, for the purposes of this Act, have the same powers as are vested in a court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), while trying a suit in respect of the following matters, namely:—
(1) Any proceeding under this Act before a tax authority shall be deemed to be a judicial proceeding within the meaning of section 193 and section 228 and for the purposes of section 196 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860).
(1) For the purposes of making an assessment or reassessment under this Act, the Assessing Officer may, on receipt of an information from an income-tax authority under the Income-tax Act or any other authority under any law for the time being in force or on coming of any information to his notice, serve on any person, a notice requiring him on a date to be specified to produce or cause to be produced such accounts or documents or evidence as the Assessing Officer may require for the purposes of this Act and may, from time to time, serve further notices requiring the production of such other accounts or documents or evidence as he may require.
(1) No order of assessment or reassessment shall be made under section 10 after the expiry of two years from the end of the financial year in which the notice under sub-section (1) of section 10 was issued by the Assessing Officer.
(1) A tax authority may amend any order passed by it under this Act so as to rectify any mistake apparent from the record.
Any sum payable in consequence of any order made under this Act shall be demanded by a tax authority by serving upon the assessee a notice of demand in such form and manner as may be prescribed.
Nothing in this Chapter shall prevent either the direct assessment of the person on whose behalf or for whose benefit the undisclosed income from a source located outside India is receivable or undisclosed asset located outside India is held, or the recovery from such person of the tax or any other sum of money payable in respect of such income and asset.
(1) Any person,—
(1) The Commissioner (Appeals) shall fix a date and place for the hearing of the appeal, and shall give notice of the same to the appellant and the Assessing Officer against whose order the appeal is preferred.
(1) In disposing of an appeal, the Commissioner (Appeals) shall have the following powers, namely:—
(1) Any assessee aggrieved by an order passed by the Commissioner (Appeals) under section 15, or an order passed by the Principal Commissioner or the Commissioner under any provision of this Act, may appeal to the Appellate Tribunal against such order.
(1) An appeal shall lie to the High Court from every order passed in appeal by the Appellate Tribunal, if the High Court is satisfied that the case involves a substantial question of law.
(1) An appeal filed before the High Court shall be heard by a Bench of not less than two Judges of the High Court and shall be decided in accordance with the opinion of such Judges or if the Bench is of more than two Judges, by the majority of such Judges.
An appeal shall lie to the Supreme Court from any judgment of the High Court delivered under section 19 which the High Court certifies to be a fit case for appeal to the Supreme Court.
(1) The provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), relating to appeals to the Supreme Court shall, so far as may be, apply in the case of appeals under section 21 as they apply in the case of appeals from decrees of a High Court.
(1) The Principal Commissioner or the Commissioner may, for the purposes of revising any order passed in any proceeding under this Act before any tax authority subordinate to him, call for and examine all available records relating thereto.
(1) The Principal Commissioner or the Commissioner may, either suo-motu or on an application made by the assessee, for the purposes of revising any order passed by an authority subordinate to him, other than an order to which section 23 applies, call for and examine all available records relating thereto.
Notwithstanding any appeal preferred to the High Court or the Supreme Court, the tax shall be paid in accordance with the assessment made under this Act.
The High Court may, on petition made for the execution of the order in respect of the costs awarded by the Supreme Court, transmit such order for execution to any court subordinate to it.
Where as a result of an appeal under section 15 or section 18, any change is made in the assessment of a body of individuals or an association of persons or an order for new assessment of a body of individuals or an association of persons is made, the Commissioner (Appeals) or the Appellate Tribunal, as the case may be, shall pass an order authorising the Assessing Officer either to amend the assessment made or make a fresh assessment on any member of the body or association.
In computing the period of limitation prescribed for an appeal under this Act, the day on which the notice of the order was served upon the assessee without serving a copy of the order, the time taken for obtaining a copy of such order, shall be excluded.
(1) The Board may, from time to time, issue orders, instructions or directions to other tax authorities, fixing such monetary limits as it may deem fit, for the purpose of regulating the filing of appeal by any tax authority under this Chapter.
(1) Any amount specified as payable in a notice of demand under section 13 shall be paid within a period of thirty days of the service of the notice, to the credit of the Central Government in such manner as may be prescribed.
(1) The Tax Recovery Officer may draw up under his signature a statement of tax arrears of an assessee referred to in sub-section (4) or sub-section (5) of section 30, in such form, as may be prescribed (such statement hereafter in this Chapter referred to as "certificate").
(1) The Assessing Officer or the Tax Recovery Officer may require the employer of the assessee to deduct from any payment to the assessee such amount as is sufficient to meet the tax arrear from the assessee.
(1) The Tax Recovery Officer competent to take action under section 31 shall be the Tax Recovery Officer —
(1) The liquidator shall inform the Assessing Officer, who has jurisdiction to assess the undisclosed foreign income and asset of the company, of his appointment within a period of thirty days of his becoming the liquidator.
(1) Every person being a manager at any time during the financial year shall be jointly and severally liable for the payment of any amount due under this Act in respect of the company for the financial year, if the amount cannot be recovered from the company.
(1) Every person, being a participant in an unincorporated body at any time during the financial year, or the representative assessee of the deceased participant, shall be jointly and severally liable, along with the unincorporated body, for payment of any amount payable by the unincorporated body under this Act and all the provisions of this Act shall apply accordingly.
If the recovery of tax in any area has been entrusted to a State Government under clause (1) of article 258 of the Constitution, the State Government may direct, with respect to that area or any part thereof, that tax shall be recovered therein with, and as an addition to, any municipal tax or local rate, by the same person and in the manner as the municipal tax or local rate is recovered.
(1) The Tax Recovery Officer may, in a case where an assessee has property in a country or a specified territory outside India, forward a certificate to the Board for recovery of the tax arrears from the assessee, where the Central Government or any specified association in India has entered into an agreement with that country or territory under section 90 or section 90A of the Income-tax Act or under sub-sections (1), (2) or sub-section (4) of section 73 of this Act, as the case may be, for the purposes of recovery of tax.
(1) The several modes of recovery specified in this Chapter shall not affect in anyway—
(1) Where the assessee has any income from a source outside India which has not been disclosed in the return of income furnished under sub-section (1) of section 139of the Income-tax Act or the return of income has not been furnished under the said sub-section, interest shall be chargeable in accordance with the provisions of section 234A of the Income-tax Act.
The Assessing Officer may direct that in a case where tax has been computed under section 10 in respect of undisclosed foreign income and asset, the assessee shall pay by way of penalty, in addition to tax, if any, payable by him, a sum equal to three times the tax computed under that section.
If a person, being a resident other than not ordinarily resident in India within the meaning of clause (6) of section 6 of the Income-tax Act, who is required to furnish a return of his income for any previous year, as required under sub-section (1) of section 139 of the Income-tax Act or by the provisos to that sub-section, and who at any time during such previous year,--
If any person, being a resident other than not ordinarily resident in India within the meaning of clause (6) of section 6 of the Income-tax Act, who has furnished the return of income for any previous year under sub-section (1) or sub-section (4) or sub-section (5) of section 139 of the said Act, fails to furnish any information or furnishes inaccurate particulars in such return relating to any asset (including financial interest in any entity) located outside India, held by him as a beneficial owner or otherwise, or in respect of which he was a beneficiary, or relating to any income from a source located outside India, at any time during such previous year, the Assessing Officer may direct that such person shall pay, by way of penalty, a sum of ten lakh rupees:
(1) Every person who is an assessee in default, or an assessee deemed to be in default, as the case may be, in making payment of tax, and in case of continuing default by such assessee, he shall be liable to a penalty of an amount, equal to the amount of tax arrear.
(1) A person shall be liable to a penalty if he has, without reasonable cause, failed to—
(1) The tax authority shall, for the purposes of imposing any penalty under this Chapter, issue a notice to an assessee requiring him to show cause why the penalty should not be imposed on him.
(1) No order imposing a penalty under this Chapter shall be passed after the expiry of a period of one year from the end of the financial year in which the notice for imposition of penalty is issued under section 46.
(1) The provisions of this Chapter shall be in addition to, and not in derogation of, the provisions of any other law providing for prosecution for offences there under.
If a person, being a resident other than not ordinarily resident in India within the meaning of clause (6) of section 6 of the Income-tax Act, who at any time during the previous year, held any asset (including financial interest in any entity) located outside India as a beneficial owner or otherwise, or was a beneficiary of such asset or had income from a source outside India and wilfully fails to furnish in due time the return of income which he is required to furnish under sub-section (1) of section 139 of that Act, he shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to seven years and with fine:
If any person, being a resident other than not ordinarily resident in India within the meaning of clause (6) of section 6 of the Income-tax Act, who has furnished the return of income for any previous year under sub-section (1) or sub-section (4) or sub-section (5) of section 139 of that Act, wilfully fails to furnish in such return any information relating to anasset (including financial interest in any entity) located outside India, held by him, as a beneficial owner or otherwise or in which he was a beneficiary, at any time during such previous year, or disclose any income from a source outside India, he shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to seven years and with fine.
(1) If a person, being a resident other than not ordinarily resident in India within the meaning of clause (6) of section 6 of the Income-tax Act, wilfully attempts in any manner whatsoever to evade any tax, penalty or interest chargeable or imposable under this Act, he shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than three years but which may extend to ten years and with fine.
If a person, makes a statement in any verification under this Act or under any rule made thereunder, or delivers an account or statement which is false, and which he either knows or believes to be false, or does not believe to be true, he shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to seven years and with fine.
If a person abets or induces in any manner another person to make and deliver an account or a statement or declaration relating to tax payable under this Act which is false and which he either knows to be false or does not believe to be true or to commit an offence under sub-section (1) of section 51, he shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to seven years and with fine.
(1) In any prosecution for any offence under this Act which requires a culpable mental state on the part of the accused, the court shall presume the existence of such mental state but it shall be a defence for the accused to prove the fact that he had no such mental state with respect to the act charged as an offence in that prosecution.
55. 1 [Prosecution to be at instance of Principal Chief Commissioner or Principal Director General or Chief Commissioner or Director General or Principal Commissioner or Commissioner].—(1) A person shall not be proceeded against for an offence under section 49 to section 53 (both inclusive) except with the sanction of the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner or the Commissioner (Appeals), as the case may be.
(1) Where an offence under this Act has been committed by a company, every person who, at the time the offence was committed, was in charge of, and was responsible to, the company for the conduct of the business of the company as well as the company shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
(1) The entries in the records, or other documents, in the custody of a tax authority shall be admitted in evidence in any proceeding for the prosecution of any person for an offence under this Chapter.
If any person convicted of an offence under section 49 to section 53 (both inclusive)is again convicted of an offence under any of the aforesaid provisions, he shall be punishable for the second and every subsequent offence with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than three years, but which may extend to ten years and with fine which shall not be less than five lakh rupees, but which may extend to one crore rupees.
Subject to the provisions of this Chapter, any person may make, on or after the date of commencement of this Act but on or before a date to be notified by the Central Government in the Official Gazette, a declaration in respect of any undisclosed asset located outside India and acquired from income chargeable to tax under the Income-tax Act for any assessment year prior to the assessment year beginning on 1st day of April, 2016—
Notwithstanding anything contained in the Income-tax Act or in any Finance Act, the undisclosed asset located outside India and declared under section 59 within the time specified therein shall be chargeable to tax at the rate of thirty per cent. of value of such undisclosed asset on the date of commencement of this Act.
Notwithstanding anything contained in the Income-tax Act or in any Finance Act, the person making a declaration of undisclosed asset located outside India shall, in addition to tax charged under section 60, be liable to penalty at the rate of one hundred per cent. of such tax.
(1) A declaration under section 59 shall be made to the Principal Commissioner or the Commissioner and shall be in such form and shall be verified in such manner as may be prescribed. (2) The declaration shall be signed,—
(1) The tax payable under section 60 and penalty payable under section 61 in respect of the undisclosed asset located outside India, shall be paid on or before a date to be notified by the Central Government in the Official Gazette.
The amount of undisclosed investment in an asset located outside India declared in accordance with section 59 shall not be included in the total income of the declarant for any assessment year under the Income-tax Act, if the declarant makes the payment of tax referred to in section 60 and the penalty referred to in section 61 by the date notified under sub-section (1) of section 63.
The declarant shall not be entitled, in respect of undisclosed asset located outside India declared or any amount of tax paid thereon, to reopen any assessment or reassessment made under the Income-tax Act or the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 (27 of 1957) or claim any set off or relief in any appeal, reference or other proceeding in relation to any such assessment or reassessment.
Any amount of tax paid under section 60 or penalty paid under section 61 in pursuance of a declaration made under section 59 shall not be refundable.
Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, nothing contained in any declaration made under section 59 shall be admissible in evidence against the declarant for the purpose of any proceeding relating to imposition of penalty, other than the penalty leviable under section 61, or for the purposes of prosecution under the Income-tax Act or the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 (27 of 1957) or the Foreign Exchange Management Act,1999 (42 of 1999) or the Companies Act, 2013 (18 of 2013) or the Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962) .
Notwithstanding anything contained in this Chapter, where a declaration has been made by misrepresentation or suppression of facts, such declaration shall be void and shall be deemed never to have been made under this Chapter.
(1) Where the undisclosed asset located outside India is represented by cash(including bank deposits), bullion or any other assets specified in the declaration made under section 59—
The provisions of Chapter XV of the Income-tax Act relating to liability in special cases and of section 189 of that Act or of Chapter V of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 (27 of 1957)relating to liability to assessment in special cases shall, so far as may be, apply in relation to proceeding sunder this Chapter as they apply in relation to proceedings under the Income-tax Act or, as the case may be, the Wealth-tax Act.
The provisions of this Chapter shall not apply—
For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that—
(1) The Central Government may enter into an agreement with the Government of any other country—
(1) The service of any notice, summons, requisition, order or any other communication under this Act (herein referred to in this section as "communication") may be made by delivering or transmitting a copy thereof, to the person named therein,—
(1) A notice or any other document required to be issued, served or given for the purposes of this Act by any tax authority shall be authenticated by that authority.
(1) A notice which is required to be served upon a person for the purposes of assessment under this Act shall be deemed to have been duly served upon him in accordance with the provisions of this Act, if the person has appeared in any proceeding or co-operated in any inquiry relating to an assessment.
(1) Any assessee who is entitled or required to attend before any tax authority or the Appellate Tribunal, in connection with any matter relating to the valuation of any asset, may attend through a valuer approved by the Principal Commissioner or the Commissioner in accordance with such rules as may be prescribed.
(1) Any assessee who is entitled or required to attend before any tax authority or the Appellate Tribunal, in connection with any proceeding under this Act, may attend through an authorised representative.
(1) The amount of undisclosed foreign income and asset computed in accordance with this Act shall be rounded off to the nearest multiple of one hundred rupees.
No court inferior to that of a metropolitan magistrate or a magistrate of the First Class shall try any offence under this Act.
No assessment, notice, summons or other proceedings, made or issued or taken or purported to have been made or issued or taken in pursuance of any of the provisions of this Act shall be invalid or shall be deemed to be invalid merely by reason of any mistake, defector omission in such assessment, notice, summons or other proceeding if such assessment, notice, summons or other proceeding is in substance and effect in conformity with or according to the intent and purpose of this Act.
(1) No suit shall be brought in any civil court to set aside or modify any proceeding taken or order made under this Act.
Notwithstanding anything contained in the Income-tax Act, all information contained in any statement or return made or furnished under the provisions of that Act or obtained or collected for the purposes of the said Act may be used for the purposes of this Act.
The provisions of clauses (c) and (d) of sub-section (1) of section 90, clauses (c) and (d) of sub-section (1) of section 90A, sections 119, 133, 134, 135, 138, Chapter XV and sections 237, 240, 245, 280, 280A, 280B, 280D, 281, 281B and 284 of the Income-tax Act shall apply with necessary modifications as if the said provisions refer to undisclosed foreign income and asset instead of to income-tax.
(1) The Board may, subject to the approval of the Central Government, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules for carrying out the provisions of this Act.
(1) If any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this Act, the Central Government may, by order, not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, remove the difficulty:
In section 2 of the Central Boards of Revenue Act, 1963, in sub-clause (1) of clause (c),—
In the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002, in the Schedule, in Part C, after entry (3), relating to the offences against property under Chapter XVII of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860), the following entry shall be inserted, namely:—