Besides, the new ITR forms will have a column, in which the taxpayer will be required to mention his/ her Aadhaar card number.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the apex policy-making body of the Income Tax department, has notified new Income Tax Return (ITR) forms for the current assessment year, making some additions to the existing format as part of obtaining new information to check the menace of black money.
It might be recalled that one of the pre-poll (Lok Sabha 2014) promises made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was to bring back the black money illegally stashed abroad and in the country.
The Opposition, on the other, has been taking on the government of not doing much on this front. The Opposition parties continued embarrassing the government on the issue by getting an amendment to President’s address successfully moved in the Rajya Sabha.
The government, on the other hand, has introduced a Bill -- specifically dealing with illegal money stashed in foreign banks -- providing for separate taxation of any undisclosed foreign income or assets to curb the generation of black money in the country.
Coming back to the new ITR forms, including ITR-1 and ITR-2, it requires an assessee to furnish the details of bank accounts held by him/ her “at any time (including open/ closed) during the previous year” with the last balance in his or her account on March 31 of the just concluded fiscal. The
assessee will also have to furnish the details a joint account holder.
When it comes to the disclosure of foreign travel, the assessee will have to furnish his/ her passport number, issuance place of the passport, countries visited, number of journeys made. In case of a resident taxpayer, the expenses incurred from “own sources in relation to such travel”.
“Last year, the tax department had made it mandatory for taxpayers to mention details of all assets they hold on a foreign soil under a new schedule -details of foreign assets and income from any source outside India. The new measures are part of the government’s effort to tackle black money in a non-obstrusive manner. The details will add to the taxman’s knowledge about a particular assessee,” a senior tax officer said.