A special unit has been created by the government in the countrywide investigation wings of the Income Tax department for focussed probe in cases of undisclosed assets held by Indians abroad and possession of black money in foreign shores, officials said. The Foreign Asset Investigation Units (FAIUs) have been recently created in all the 14 investigation directorates of the tax department located in various parts of the country that are primarily tasked to undertake raids and seizures, and develop intelligence to check tax evasion done by various methods. A total of 69 existing posts in the tax department were diverted by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in November last for the creation of this unit after approval from Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, a senior officer told PTI.
The taxman now has huge data coming in from various international and domestic sources to check possible illegal foreign assets holding of an individual and hence, a dedicated wing was required to analyse this information and sift through this mountain of data, according to an official.
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They argue Belgium and Luxembourg should stop ‘illegal’ transfers of data to the US
The Association of Accidental Americans (AAA) has filed two legal complaints simultaneously in Belgium and Luxemburg to demand the “immediate halt to the transfer of European citizens’ personal data to the United States”.
The claims relate to the countries’ adherence to the US’ Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca), which requires US citizens overseas and their foreign financial institutions to report their information to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for tax purposes.
The association claims the data reporting is “illegal” and breaches European privacy laws.
The US is one of two countries in the whole world that has a citizenship-based taxation system.
Guest view: The US should stop helping criminals hide money
Editorial Board
For all its unilateral tendencies, the U.S. typically isn’t known as a rogue state. But in one area it has come close: By failing to share information with other countries, it has thwarted global efforts to track down tax cheats, money launderers and terrorists efforts that it once led.
Congress has just taken a step in the right direction by supporting provisions attached to the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act that would require certain U.S. companies to report their beneficial owners to Treasury. (President Donald Trump has threatened to veto the bill for unrelated reasons, but the measure seems to command veto-proof support.) This effort is welcome, but there’s a lot more to do.