‘Rs 4,479 crore inHSBC-list accounts’
- The Central Board of Direct Taxes has directed officers to finalise the assessments for all actionable cases (427) that figure on the HSBC list received by the I-T Dept, says the SIT report
- The amount involved in these cases is Rs 4,479 crore
- Of these, the department has finalised assessment of 79 cases
- The authorities are also probing cases involving unaccounted wealth of Rs 14,957.95 cr within India
Sanjeev Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, December 12
Mandatory disclosure of PAN cards on purchase of goods over Rs 1 lakh in
cash, curbs on holding cash and checking wrong invoicing and bogus
bills are some of the recommendations for taking action to control black
money by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Justice MB
Shah.
These form part of the second report of the Special Investigation Team
(SIT) on black money, which was recently submitted by the SIT to the
Supreme Court.
The SIT in its report signed by Shah and Vice-Chairman Justice Arijit
Pasayat has said appropriate directions may be issued to the Centre for
implementation of these recommendations made above so that substantive
result could be achieved in curbing the menace of black money and
stashing thereof in foreign tax havens.
The report says at present purchase or sale of goods/services by cash is
rampant, which undoubtedly utilises and generates unaccounted money in
society. For this purpose, a suitable rule is required to be brought
under IT Rule 114 B made under Section 139 A (5) of the IT Act.
By such amendment, purchaser is required to disclose his identity either
by PAN number or Aadhar card or any other centrally recognised
documents of identity for payments above Rs 1 lakh.
It is suggested that for regulating the possession and transportation of
cash, particularly putting a limitation on cash holdings for private
use and including provisions for confiscation of cash held beyond
prescribed limits, provision in the Act should be made.
“To ensure that small transactions, which make a bulk of common man’s
daily transactions, are not affected, a threshold limit could be kept,”
it said.
Further, for holding cash/currency notes, there should be a limit, by
prescribing a reasonable threshold, may be Rs 10 lakh or Rs 15 lakh.
This would control holding of unaccounted money to a large extent. This
would also control transfer of unaccounted cash from one destination to
other, the report said.
The SIT has said it is established that over-invoicing or
under-invoicing is a known method for stashing black money outside the
country. If there is proper vigilance by the Customs Department,
misinvoicing can be controlled.
Further, it notes that it is of utmost necessity to curb the creation of
fake/bogus bills. One important step which can be taken to curb this
menace is to make declaration of PAN number mandatory for all sales,
where payment is in cash or through bank, above Rs 1 lakh.
The Financial Action Task Force on money laundering recommends “tax
crimes” to be made a predicate offence so that action can be taken under
the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. There are more than 25
countries in the world which have made “tax crimes” as a predicate
offence. The Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA), provides for
confiscation of any property held abroad, if found to be held in
violation of Section 4 of the Act. For various reasons, it is difficult
to proceed against property held abroad..THE TRIBUNE,CHANDIGARH
