The Income Tax Department has issued notices in over 400 cases involving more than ₹12,600 crore under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income & Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act since July 1, 2015, when it came into force.
According to data available till December 2019, the notices were given in 422 cases. “On account of deposits made in unreported foreign bank accounts in HSBC cases, so far, undisclosed income of more than ₹8,460 crore have been brought to tax and penalty of more than ₹1,290 crore levied,” said the Finance Ministry in response to a question in Lok Sabha on Monday.
The provisional value of assets seized by the Department in the search and seizure actions in 2018-19 was ₹1,584.11 crore, as against ₹992.52 crore in 2017-18 and ₹1,469.62 in 2016-17.
The Department has conducted 893 search-and-seizure operations till January this financial year, according to another reply. The figure stood at 983 in the last financial year.
The Agency has launched prosecution in 1,149 cases, compared to 3,512 cases in 2019-19. While 353 cases have been disposed of by the courts, the Department has secured 41 convictions. In the last financial year, a total of 570 cases were disposed of and 105 convictions made.
ED searches
The ED has conducted 311 searches under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and 121 under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) till January 2020. In 2018-19, it had carried out 519 searches under the PMLA and 151 under the FEMA.
The Directorate initiated investigation in 171 cases, compared to 195 the previous year, concluded the probe in 24 cases as against 239 in 2018-19. Four convictions were secured in 2018-19, and one conviction in this financial year, till January 31.
