Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: In a move that will make the fight against tax evasion and bringing back black money from abroad easier and faster, the Lok Sabha on Monday passed the Black money bill.
The government, however, said the black money bill does not deal with domestic illegal money.
Earlier during the day, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley placed the bill before the house and called on the Opposition to support the legislation.
Addressing the House, Jaitley said the government would soon bring a new benami law as part of efforts to deal with black money.
The bill provides for penalty and tax up to 120 percent along with criminal prosecution for those who have parked black money abroad.
During the debate, Jaitley rejected the opposition demand of referring the bill to the Standing Committee saying delay in enacting the legislation would provide opportunity to offenders to transfer unaccounted overseas wealth to unknown destinations.
For those wanting to come clean, Jaitley said there would be a compliance window in two parts -- to declare assets and to pay 30 percent tax and 30 percent penalty.
Once the compliance window closes, anyone found having undeclared overseas wealth would be required to pay 30 percent tax, 90 percent penalty and face criminal prosecution, said Jaitley.
The Bill, which was introduced amid persistant demand for dealing effectively with black money stashed abroad, provides for rigorous imprisonment of up to 10 years for offenders.
With PTI Inputs
