ITR Filing Taxpayers have to keep in mind that even if there is property abroad and no income is being generated from it, still it will have to be mentioned in the ITR. If you don’t do this then you will have to suffer.
Black money and undeclared income have been a big issue in the country for a long time. For the past several decades, government tax officials have been disclosing from time to time the income being remitted abroad by citizens, which shows that even today, a large number of people are investing abroad. Black money and undeclared income are a big threat to the economy of any country. This leads to inflation, increase in corruption and loss of huge amount of revenue in the country.
In order to eliminate this problem, the government has introduced the Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets (Imposition of Tax) Bill, 2015 in 2015, after which it is mandatory for all citizens of the country. It has been given that if he has any property abroad or if any income is coming from abroad, then he will have to declare it in his ITR (Income Tax Return) .
Declare all foreign assets and income in ITR
As per the guidelines issued by the Income Tax Department, taxpayers will have to declare foreign accounts, shares of foreign companies, mutual fund units of foreign funds and immovable assets under Schedule FA. Taxpayers have to keep in mind here that even if there is property abroad and no income is being generated from it, still it has to be disclosed in the ITR.
Penalty for not declaring foreign assets
In recent times, many tax agreements have been made by the tax regulators with foreign countries, due to which the tax regulators of the country get information about the investments being made abroad by the citizens of the country. If you have also not declared assets abroad in ITR, then you can be fined up to Rs 10 lakh under the Black Money Act. At the same time, it runs the risk of being treated as ‘undisclosed foreign income and assets’, which may attract 30 per cent tax and a penalty of 3 times the total tax liability.
If you want to avoid all these hassles, then you have to give complete information about foreign assets and income in your ITR. On the other hand, if you have filed ITR for this year, then you should check the ITR once whether you have given details of all your foreign assets and income or not. If not given then you can amend your ITR by paying late fee.
