I-T dept detects Rs6,799 cr in undisclosed income in April-December 2012

The government today said searches conducted by the income tax department detected undisclosed income to the tune of Rs6,799 crore during April-December 2012.

''In the searches conducted by I-T department during 2011-12 and 2012-13 (up to December 2012) undisclosed income of about Rs14,017 crore and Rs6,798.93 crore, respectively, were admitted by the persons searched and undisclosed assets of about Rs905.61 crore and Rs453.53 crore were seized,'' minister of state for finance S S Palanimanickam said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

The minister said surveys conducted by the department during 2011-12 and 2012-13 (up to December 2012) showed undisclosed income of about Rs6,572.75 crore and 8,254.41 crore, respectively.

He said the government has been renegotiating double taxation avoidance agreements (DTAAs) with other countries to bring Article on Exchange of Information at par with international standards, so as to check the generation and transfer of black money to foreign countries.

At the same time, he said, India has expanded treaty network through new DTAAs and tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs) with several tax jurisdictions to facilitate the exchange of information and bring in tax transparency.

Besides, the government has taken up legislative measures to reopen assessment of assets (including bank accounts) held outside the country for as far back as 16 years for taxing undisclosed assets, he said.