New Delhi, Mar 26, 2025, IANS

New Delhi, March 26 (IANS) Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that a special campaign carried out by the Income Tax Department has led to the declaration of foreign assets and income to the tune of Rs 30, 300 crore after over 30,000 taxpayers revised their income tax returns or filed belated returns for 2024-25. The Finance Minister said in the Lok Sabha that SMS and e-mails were sent to around 19,501 taxpayers, asking them to review their income tax returns based on information collected by the Income Tax Department on foreign deposits. She said the "nudge campaign" resulted in 11,162 taxpayers revising their tax returns and filing the Schedule Foreign Assets Form, declaring total assets of Rs 11,259.29 crore and disclosing foreign income of Rs 154.42 crore. Another 883 taxpayers revised their ITRs and corrected their status from resident to non-resident in the revised return for 2024-25. An additional 13,516 taxpayers declared foreign assets of Rs 7,564 crore and foreign income of approximately Rs 353 crore in their revised ITR for 2024-25. The Income Tax Department launched a compliance-cum-awareness campaign, aimed at encouraging voluntary disclosures of offshore wealth and income. The drive focused on a data-driven and non-intrusive approach, which led to a 45.17 per cent year-on-year jump in voluntary disclosures in 2024-25 compared to 2023-24. According to sources, tax authorities received financial information from over 108 countries regarding foreign accounts and income in the form of interest and dividends earned outside India by its citizens. The number of taxpayers disclosing foreign assets and income voluntarily has shot up from 60,000 in 2021-22 to 2,31,452 taxpayers in 2024-25. India is one of the early adopters of Common Reporting Standards (CRS) and has been receiving data since 2018. More than 125 countries have agreed to share financial information of individuals linked to other jurisdictions on an automatic basis, including details of accounts held, account balances, dividends, interest received, and gross payments. A similar exchange occurs with the US under the Inter-Governmental Agreement under the Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), 2010. Using this data received under the automatic exchange of information, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) launched a Compliance-Cum-Awareness Campaign on November 17, 2024, urging taxpayers to declare their foreign assets and income in revised Income Tax Returns (ITRs) for Assessment Year (AY) 2024-25. This campaign followed a system-driven and taxpayer-friendly approach, utilising the information received through CRS and FATCA. The Income Tax Department also facilitated taxpayers by providing a step-by-step guide to filling out Schedule Foreign Assets and Schedule Foreign Source Income, along with explanatory materials to help them understand the information received under these frameworks.