Black Money Act: Govt raises Rs 35,104 crore in tax and penalties over 10 years

The government has raised over Rs 35,000 crore in tax and penalty demands under the Black Money Act since 2015, but recovered only Rs 338 crore. No country-specific data is maintained, and 163 prosecutions have been filed till March 2025

New Delhi: The government has raised a tax demand of Rs 21,719 crore as a result of assessments completed under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 (during July 1, 2015 to March 31, 2025), the Parliament was informed on Tuesday.

In addition, demand of Rs 13,385 crore has been raised (till March 31, 2025) on account of penalties imposed under various sections of Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary, told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply to a question.

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“Notably, from 01.07.2015 to 31.03.2025, recovery of Rs 338 crore has been made against tax, penalty and interest demand raised under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015. However, since collections are not mapped to specific countries or types of foreign holdings, separate data for recoveries related to Swiss deposits or foreign accounts is not maintained,” he said.

Further, till March 31, 2025, 163 prosecution complaints have been filed under various sections of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, he noted.

Such enquiries are conducted on a case-by-case basis by the jurisdictional authorities.

According to the minister, tax demand arising in cases of undisclosed foreign income or assets can pertain to multiple jurisdictions and country-wise bifurcation of such demand is not maintained centrally.

“There are some media reports based on Swiss National Bank (SNB) statistics which mention that Indian linked funds in Swiss banks have risen in 2024 as compared to the previous year’s amount. It is also relevant to mention that as per Swiss authorities, the data in respect of SNB statistics includes, inter alia, amounts due in respect of customer deposits (including in foreign branches of Swiss Banks located in any country), other liabilities as well as amounts due to banks,” Chaudhary said in his reply.

The Swiss authorities have also clarified that the SNB annual banking statistics should not be used for analysing deposits held by residents of India in Switzerland.