You will regret: Centre to stash hoarders

New Delhi: The finance ministry on Friday warned that those who have not taken advantage of the amnesty scheme, to declare black money stashed in foreign countries and come clean, will “regret it”.

“Fight against black money is part of economic reforms. As a country we can’t allow ghost economy to undermine real economy and grow,” economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das said in a tweet. He asserted that those who did not declare black money in foreign countries have done “it at their own peril and they will regret it.” “Black money compliance window:

Those who did not declare have underestimated the power of information exchange. Will regret,” said Mr Das. Some 638 people had declared Rs 3,770 crore black money stashed in foreign countries under the tax amnesty scheme which ended on Wednesday, that offered citizens a chance to disclose overseas assets by paying tax and a penalty. However, this amount is just a fraction of the black money estimated to be held by Indians in foreign countries. Opposition parties, including Congress, have mocked BJP government over low amount of black money being declared under the compliance window.

Washington-based think-tank Global Financial Integrity had estimated that India suffered $344 billion in illicit fund outflows between 2002 and 2011. The compliance window to come clean was offered by the Modi government before the harsh provisions of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 kicks in.

India has signed an agreement with the US on implementing the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which allows automatic exchange of tax information between the two countries with effect from September 30.

Also the multilateral Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) agreement, which will come into force from 2017, will help the government in getting tax related information from several jurisdictions across the world.

As on March 18, 58 jurisdictions (including India) have committed to share information under AEOI by 2017. A further 36 jurisdictions have committed to share by 2018, including jurisdictions which have beneficial tax regime.