IDS disclosures are worth Rs 65,250 cr

The Income Declaration Scheme, 2016, has led to the disclosures worth at least Rs 65,250 crore, the biggest-ever black money disclosure. This would make the exchequer richer by Rs 29,362 crore by way of taxes.

IDS 2016, which came into effect on June 1, 2016, offered an opportunity to persons who had not paid full taxes in the past to declare their domestic undisclosed income and assets. Declarations could be made online as well in printed copies of the prescribed form up to midnight on September 30, 2016.

As many as 64,275 declarations were filed with an aggregate of Rs 65,250 crore worth of hitherto undeclared incomes in the form of cash and other assets, said an official release. Which is about Rs 1 crore per declaration.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the officers involved in his tweets.

Jaitley pointed out that Rs 9,760 crore was collected under the Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme (VDIS) that was introduced by one of his predecessors, P. Chidambaram in 1997.

Jaitley claimed that IDS is not an amnesty scheme, whereas VDIS offered blanket amnesty. Further, IDS disclosures are taxed at 45 per cent, while the effective rate of tax in Chidambaram’s scheme was in the single digit, he told the media.

“It [VDIS’ rate] was 30 per cent tax, but the value of asset was taken not for 1997, but for 1987. So the effective rate of tax was single digit rate of tax. And this is a 45 per cent rate of tax. So the two schemes are entirely different,” Jaitley said. “This kind of declaration is a positive step because more and more people in the higher tax income are wanting to become more and more tax compliant.”