By Tarun Kumar G. Singhal
Raman Jokhakar Chartered Accountants
fiogf49gjkf0d
It appears that the taxman has turned his steely gaze towards Indian software professionals with retirement savings in the US. Stiff penalties under the ‘black money law’ are reportedly in the offing if investments are not disclosed. That is unfair. These professionals are not scheming cheats stashing their cash overseas. They pay taxes on their global income in India. Mobility is extremely high in India’s export-driven software industry. These professionals have foreign bank accounts, make social security contributions or contribute to US retirement savings such as the 401K plan, where the contribution is made out of pre-tax dollars and taxed only at the time of withdrawals. For this lot, to keep track of each and every deposit made in the bank account since it was opened is tough. Any inadvertent error in disclosure can lead to needless harassment. This will hold equally for those who have worked abroad on short stints.
True, government has now offered a voluntary compliance scheme that allows Indians with hidden assets overseas to come clean. However, once the compliance window is shut, anyone charged of wilful attempt to evade taxes will have to pay a stiff penalty and face prosecution. Should IT professionals also use the compliance window, especially since information on undisclosed assets of Indian taxpayers will be available later this year under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act? The US had passed the law in 2010 that requires US taxpayers and foreign financial institutions to report information on foreign accounts of US taxpayers. With the Indo-US accord, our tax authorities will secure details of financial accounts held by Indian taxpayers in the US. So, a clarification is in order.
Applying the draconian provisions of India’s black money law to Indian IT professionals is simply unjust. Instead, the government should go after the big fish who dodge the tax net. India certainly needs an IT-empowered, big data-crunching department that can tell a person how much tax she should have paid, instead of the taxpayer saying how much she earns.
(Source: Editorial in The Economic Times dated 14-07-2015.)
