Eligibility of Income declaration Scheme (IDS)
Q. Who are ineligible as per the Income declaration Scheme (IDS)?- Published on 21 Mar 16a. Those already under scrutiny
b. Those with pending cases
c. Those with pending appeals
d. None. All are eligible.
ANSWER: Those already under scrutiny
- Tax payers, whose returns were picked for random scrutiny by the authorities in recent years, would not be eligible to turn concealed income into ‘white’ under the Income Declaration Scheme (IDS), announced in the Union Budget to bring black money into the tax net.
- The scheme also shuts out ‘innocent’ taxpayers who filed returns on time but whose cases were chosen for scrutiny to verify claims.
- This could be a dampener for the scheme as it would exclude potential disclosures from people who received notices seeking a regular explanation on the returns they had filed.
- Under the income declaration scheme, people who have received notices under Sections 142 (1), 143 (2), 148, 153A or 153C of the Income Tax Act are not eligible to disclose previously concealed income.
- Separately, as per the explanatory memorandum to the budget, it won’t be open to cases “where a search or survey has been conducted and the time for issuance of notice under the relevant provisions of the Act has not expired, or where information is received under an agreement with foreign countries regarding such income, cases covered under the Black Money Act, 2015, or persons notified under Special Court Act, 1992, or cases covered under Indian Penal Code, the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
