30,161 Indian citizens have come forward and declared foreign assets worth more than ₹29,000 crore and foreign income of ₹1,089.88 crore for the Assessment Year (AY) 2024-25. This comes after a special drive taken by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), official sources informed IANS on Thursday.
The CBDT launched a compliance and awareness drive to get taxpayers voluntarily declare their overseas assets and incomes. Conducted by the Income Tax Department, this drive used a data-led and non-obtrusive approach and saw a 45.17% growth in voluntary declarations for AY 2024-25 from the previous year.
Among those who disclosed their foreign holdings, 5,483 individuals filed their Income Tax Returns (ITRs) after the deadline, while the rest submitted revised filings. Additionally, 6,734 taxpayers updated their residential status from Resident to Non-Resident, according to sources.
The total value of foreign assets declared stands at ₹29,208 crore, with an additional offshore income of ₹1,089.88 crore, sources confirmed.
The authorities received financial information from more than 108 nations, including data on foreign bank accounts of Indian citizens, interest income, and dividend income.
The voluntary reporting of taxpayers of offshore assets and income has increased dramatically, from 60,000 in 2021-22 to 2,31,452 in 2024-25.
India has been one of the early adopters of the Common Reporting Standards (CRS) and has been receiving financial information since 2018. More than 125 countries have committed to automatically exchanging such information, including account balances, dividend and interest income, and other financial transactions.
Further, under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) of 2010, a similar financial information exchange occurs between India and the United States.
Riding over the data imparted to these international systems, the CBDT initiated its Compliance-Cum-Awareness campaign on 17th November, 2024, where the taxpayers have been asked to inform their overseas revenue and wealth by amending their ITR for AY 2024-25.
This project was made taxpayer-friendly and rule-based, using data from CRS and FATCA. In order to help taxpayers, the Income Tax Department issued elaborate instructions on disclosing filing, including guidance on filling up Schedule Foreign Assets and Schedule Foreign Source Income.
As part of the campaign, 19,501 taxpayers with high foreign account balances or significant offshore income from interest and dividend were personally invited through SMS and email to make the necessary updates in their ITRs.
In addition, 30 outreach programs in the form of seminars and webinars were organized in the country that directly interacted with more than 8,500 participants.
The reaction to this drive has been overwhelmingly favorable, with close to 62% of taxpayers voluntarily updating their ITRs to report foreign assets and earnings.
The very essence of this campaign is the 'Trust First' philosophy, which focuses on voluntary compliance rather than enforcement. Rather than opting for coercive actions, the department trusted the taxpayers and gave them sufficient time and space to provide full and accurate disclosures, a top official said.
Read also| Resilient India to see 6.5 pc growth in fiscal 2026 despite challenges, Stated by Crisil
Read also| India's Manufacturing Growth Slows but Remains Resilient in February: Report
