Shah Rukh Khan gets I-T notice too; investments in tax havens under scanner

Not just businessmen and individuals are facing the heat from government agencies to declare their illegal wealth, the income tax department officials are not sparing celebrities either. Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan has reportedly received a notice from the department, asking him to provide details of his investments in overseas destinations. [caption id=“attachment_2910524” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan[/caption] A report in The Economic Times said the notice sent under Section 131 of the Income-Tax Act seeks to fish out information beyond the actor’s disclosed ownership of shares of companies in tax havens. The report suggests the tax office has sought details of King Khan’s investments in destinations such as Bermuda, British Virgin Islands and Dubai. Facing public pressure to keep the promise made during the elections of 2014, the NDA government has launched an aggressive effort to curb black money hoarding by Indians both domestically and in foreign destinations with lax tax laws. The government on 1 June launched an Income Declaration Scheme (IDS), providing a window for black money holders to declare their ill-gotten wealth by 30 September. Those who declare such income can make the payment of tax September 2017 in three instalments with a 45 percent penalty. “Notices are being issued to assessees to send the message that the government is serious and those who once again refuse to declare concealed income would face the music,” the ET report quoted senior chartered accountant Dilip Lakhani. On Saturday, prime minister Narendra Modi warned black money holders of stringent action including imprisonment if they did not come clean by 30 September. At a function jewellers organised to felicitate him, Modi said he is aware of people going to bullion merchants with “cartload” of money and a message has to be delivered to them to come clean using the one-time compliance window closing on 30 September. Stating that people have been jailed in the past for evading taxes, he said the government should not be forced to resort to the same after 30 September. Earlier last week, finance minister Arun Jaitley said the Income Tax Department has detected undisclosed income worth Rs 22,475 crore in over 9,500 surveys conducted over the past two years. Jaitley had said that the ongoing scheme provides for an opportunity to all the persons who have not paid full taxes in the past to come forward and declare the undisclosed income and pay, surcharge and penalty. He said there has been a “significant rise” in criminal prosecutions filed by the I-T department in last two years. The number of cases where prosecution complaints were filed and offences were compounded during fiscal year 2014-15 and 2015-16 is 3,140, as against 1,690 during fiscal 2012-13 and 2013-14. The government, Jaitley said, has taken several steps to effectively tackle the issue of black money, particularly black money stashed abroad. With PTI inputs