LECTURE MEETING ON - ATTACK ON BLACK MONEY

THE CHAMBER OF TAX CONSULTANTS

LECTURE MEETING ON - ATTACK ON BLACK MONEY

Tuesday, 28^th April, 2015 at Walchand Hirachand Hall, IMC.

The Chamber of Tax Consultants is pleased to announce a lecture meeting jointly with Indian Merchant Chambers on – Attack on Black Money.

Black money or undisclosed money causes harm to the so­ciety. It is unfair to the people who pay proper taxes. It needs to be dealt with appropriately. At the same time, there should be fairness in the law so that unintended viola­tions are not punished severely.

The Government has introduced a bill – "The Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets (Imposition of Tax) Bill, 2015”. It has also proposed amendments to Foreign Exchange Management Act and Prevention of Money Laun­dering law. It will not only affect those who have undisclosed incomes and assets, but also advisors, banks or financial institutions who aid in stashing black money overseas. It will not only apply to direct owners of assets, but also to beneficial owners and beneficiaries in any assets. It will affect those who have foreign holdings through complex structures and trusts.

Stringent penalties and Imprisonment of up to seven years and in some cases up to ten years has been pro­posed. The proposed law provides for a short window to disclose the undisclosed assets whereby one can avoid imprisonment. One needs to consider and advise on this.

Some of the issues to be considered are:

F Is the entire value of foreign assets affected by the new law, or only the foreign income component?

F Implications of considering the violation as predicate offence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

F Implications of section 37A of Foreign Exchange Management Act – seizure of foreign assets.

F Does the law apply to incomes earned prior to the enactment of the new law?

F Implications on-going investigations due to disclosure of names having foreign accounts in HSBC list and other lists.

F Is there natural justice available in the law for unintended violations?

To understand the proposals and their implications, a lecture meeting is organised as under:

Chairman        :      Mr. Nishith Desai, Advocate

Speaker           :      Mr. Sanjay Sanghvi, Advocate

Date & Date      :      Tuesday 28th April 2015

Time               :      6.15 pm to 7.45 pm (with fellowship and tea / coffee from 5.45 pm to 6.15 pm)

Venue      :      Walchand Hirachand Hall, 4th Floor, Indian Merchant Chambers, Churchgate, Mumbai-400 020.

All members are co-cordially invited to attend the meeting.

INTERNATIONAL TAXATION COMMITTEE
Chairman	:	Naresh Ajwani
Vice-Chairman	:	Ramesh Iyer
Convenors	:	Devendra Mehta Varsha Galvankar Ganesh Rajagopalan

(CTC Office : 3, Rewa Chambers, Groun Floor, 31, New Marine Lines,Mumbai - 400 020.Tel: 2200 1787 / 2209 0423 Fax: 2200 2455 / Website: www.ctconline.org/ Email id : office@ctconline.org)