NEW ITR FORMS ASKS DETAILS OF FOREIGN ASSETS & ACCOUNTS

In its efforts to check black money stashed in foreign banks, government has introduced a new column seeking details of foreign assets in the Income Tax Return (ITR) forms for the assessment year 2012-13. Taxpayers, who hold foreign bank accounts or properties, will now have to furnish details of their foreign assets which include information like country name, address of the bank, name mentioned in the account and peak balance during the year, after converting the value of the foreign currency in INR. Similar information will also have to be provided by the taxpayer to I-T authorities if he holds financial interest in any entity abroad, details of overseas immovable property and any other other asset outside India. The I-T department, in the new ITR, has also asked the taxpayer to furnish to it details of account/accounts abroad in which the taxpayer has “signing authority”. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had announced in his Budget speech earlier this month that new steps will be taken to make compulsory the reporting of assets held abroad by Indians. “Furnishing of return by such a resident (with assets abroad) would be mandatory irrespective of the fact whether the resident taxpayer has taxable income or not,” the Budget statement had said. The proposal would be effective from April 1, 2012 with retrospective effect. No other changes have been made in the six other ITR forms.