Black money: ₹4,500 cr lying in bank accounts abroad, says SIT

Wants PAN used in payments over 1 lakh, cap on amount of cash a person can keep

Income Tax authorities have traced about 4,500 crore in undisclosed money in bank accounts overseas, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the matter said in its second report to the Supreme Court.

The report, released on Friday, said investigations are pending in 33 cases involving an amount of 14,957.95 crore, and that the Enforcement Directorate is in the process of attaching assets worth over 3,800 crore.

Of the 628 persons having bank accounts abroad, 339 have some money in their accounts, while the rest do not. And of them, 201 are non-residents or not traceable. In its recommendations, the SIT has proposed mandatory quoting of the Permanent Account Number (PAN) in sales involving payment of 1 lakh or more, to curb the creation of fake or bogus bills.

"The purchaser would also be under an obligation to ensure that the invoices he gets have the PAN number of the seller," the report pointed out.

Cash purchase

The purchase or sale of goods or services by cash is rampant, which undoubtedly utilises or generates unaccounted money in society, the SIT observed,

In order to regulate possession and transportation of cash, the team suggested putting a limit on cash holdings for private use and including a provision in the Income Tax Act for confiscation of cash held beyond the prescribed limit. Various European countries have such provisions, the SIT said.

"Further, for holding of cash/currency notes also, there should be a limit, by prescribing a reasonable threshold, maybe 10 lakh or 15 lakh. This would control holding of unaccounted money to a large extent. This would also control transfer of unaccounted cash from one destination to another, which at present is rampant," it said.

It also suggested a statutory rule allowing the Income Tax Department to recover dues in respect of the property attached by the Enforcement Directorate.