CBDT sets March 31 for Panama Paper probe completion

Feb 24, 2020
New Delhi: The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has set the March 31 deadline for completion of the Panama and Paradise Papers’ probes and filing of the report for initiation of prosecution.

The department had unearthed over Rs 1,000 crore undisclosed income in Panama Papers, in which several prominent personalities, like Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Sameer Gehlaut and K.P. Singh of DLF, were named. Around 714 entities and individuals had been named in Paradise Papers case in 2017.

Around 426 Indian entities with offshore accounts were under the income tax department lens in 2016. Former Minister of State Jayant Sinha, an MP from Hazaribagh in Jharkhand, was also named in the case.

Much of the data on Paradise Papers was disclosed by Appleby, a Bermuda-based legal services provider and Singapore-based Asiaciti, that helped setting up of offshore firms with low or zero tax rates.

The income tax department is investigating these cases under the Black Money Act, 2015, under which any person unable to justify the source of funds in question will have to pay nearly 300 per cent penalty on the applicable tax liability.

But most cases are from before FY12, when it was not mandatory to disclose foreign assets. Some entities that disclosed details after it became mandatory are also part of the investigation.
IANS