Fine for non-reporting of overseas assets in I-T returns relaxed

Resident taxpayers can breathe a sigh of relief regarding the non-reporting of certain

overseas assets

in their

I-T returns

.
Thus far, Indian professionals who fail to disclose employee stock options given by overseas parent company find themselves facing

penalties

under Black Money Act.
Recognising this, FM has proposed to ‘de-penalise’ non-reporting of movable assets up to Rs 20 lakh.

Ameet Patel, partner at Manohar Chowdhry & Associates, says, “In ITR forms, there is a separate field for

reporting

foreign assets and income. The penalty under Black Money Act for non-reporting of the same is Rs 10 lakh for every year of default, independent of the value of the assets or income not reported. This has a very devastating impact as the taxpayer could end up paying several times more than the value of the asset or the income earned abroad.”