The department has issued a Black Money Act notice for a foreign bank account opened in 2007. The Act only came into force in 2015. On what does the charge on that asset actually rest, and in which year is it charged?
On s.3(1) and its proviso. The Act came into force on 1 July 2015 (s.1(3): "Save as otherwise provided in this Act, it shall come into force on the 1st day of July, 2015"). Section 3(1) charges tax "on every assessee for every assessment year commencing on or after the 1st day of April, 2016 ... in respect of his total undisclosed foreign income and asset of the previous year at the rate of thirty per cent of such undisclosed income and asset". The proviso to s.3(1) is the provision that matters for an old asset: "Provided that an undisclosed asset located outside India shall be charged to tax on its value in the previous year in which such asset comes to the notice of the Assessing Officer." So the year of charge for an asset is not the year of acquisition but the year of coming to notice, and s.3(2) defines the "value of an undisclosed asset" as its fair market value determined in the prescribed manner. Section 4(1) puts three things into the total: (a) undisclosed income from a source outside India, (b) income from a source outside India where a return was required under s.139 of the Income-tax Act and none was furnished in time, and (c) the value of an undisclosed asset located outside India. Section 4(2) keeps out of the total any variation made under ss.29 to 43C, ss.57 to 59 or s.92C of the Income-tax Act, and s.4(3) keeps what is charged here out of total income under that Act. Section 5(1)(i) forbids any deduction for expenditure or allowance and any set off of loss, "whether or not it is allowable in accordance with the provisions of the Income-tax Act"; s.5(1)(ii) allows one reduction only — income already assessed or assessable under the Income-tax Act or under this Act is reduced from the value of the undisclosed asset if the assessee furnishes evidence to the Assessing Officer's satisfaction that the asset was acquired from that income — and s.5(2) prorates that reduction for immovable property.
Decided by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions (Not applicable — statutory text) on 2015-07-01, reported as Sections 1, 3, 4 and 5 of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, transcribed from incometaxindia.gov.in/w/section-3-139 (heading "Charge of tax", Chapter II — Basis of Charge, Year stamp blank), incometaxindia.gov.in/w/section-4-140 (heading "Scope of total undisclosed foreign income and asset", Year stamp blank), incometaxindia.gov.in/w/section-5-139 (heading "Computation of total undisclosed foreign income and asset", Year stamp blank) and incometaxindia.gov.in/w/section-1-140 (heading "Short title, extent and commencement", Year stamp blank). It bears on section BMA s.1(3), section BMA s.3, section BMA s.3(1), section BMA s.3(2), section BMA s.4, section BMA s.4(1), section BMA s.4(1)(c), section BMA s.5, section BMA s.72(c), section 139, section 139(1), section 139(4), section 139(5), section 29, section 57, section 59, section 92C of the Income Tax Act 1961, in Assessment & Scrutiny and How Tax Law Is Read matters.
Almost every contested Black Money assessment is an assessment of an asset, not of income, and the proviso to s.3(1) is what allows an asset acquired long before 1 July 2015 to be charged at all: the charge attaches in the previous year in which the asset comes to the notice of the Assessing Officer. A practitioner arguing retrospectivity has to meet the proviso first, and then s.72(c), which is dealt with in the companion entry on penalty and the transitional provisions. Two further points come straight off the section and are routinely missed. First, s.5(1)(i) removes the whole apparatus of deduction and set-off, so the thirty per cent is charged on value, not on gain — an assessee who funded a foreign asset out of borrowings gets no relief for them under this Act. Second, the ONLY reduction the Act permits is the one in s.5(1)(ii), and it is conditional on evidence to the satisfaction of the Assessing Officer that the asset was acquired from income already assessed or assessable; it is not a general credit for taxed income. THE LIBRARY ALREADY HOLDS DECISIONS the reader should be sent to instead of this page for the contested questions: Union of India v Gautam Khaitan on s.1(3) and the date from which the Act operates; Jt CIT v Akhilesh Singh on the threshold question of what is an undisclosed foreign asset; Atanu Banerjee v DDIT on an asset bought while the assessee was non-resident; JCIT v Vikash Marda on the first assessment year; and Satish Gopal Rao v DDIT on s.72(c) reaching assets rather than income. This entry states the text those decisions are applied to and nothing more.
Binding on the department, not on the assessee or the courts. An assessee may rely on a circular that is beneficial to them.
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Section 1(3), as printed on the departmental page, reads: "Save as otherwise provided in this Act, it shall come into force on the 1st day of July, 2015." The words "1st day of July, 2015" carry a footnote on that page, transcribed verbatim: "Substituted for “1st day of April, 2016” by the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act (Removal of Difficulties) Order, 2015, w.e.f. 1-7-2015." The Act was therefore originally to come into force on 1 April 2016 and the commencement was brought forward to 1 July 2015 by that Order. Section 1(1) gives the short title and s.1(2) provides that "It extends to the whole of India." Section 3, under the chapter heading "CHAPTER II — BASIS OF CHARGE" and the marginal heading "Charge of tax", reads: "(1) There shall be charged on every assessee for every assessment year commencing on or after the 1st day of April, 2016, subject to the provisions of this Act, a tax in respect of his total undisclosed foreign income and asset of the previous year at the rate of thirty per cent of such undisclosed income and asset: Provided that an undisclosed asset located outside India shall be charged to tax on its value in the previous year in which such asset comes to the notice of the Assessing Officer. (2) For the purposes of this section 'value of an undisclosed asset' means the fair market value of an asset (including financial interest in any entity) determined in such manner as may be prescribed." Section 4 reads: "(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the total undisclosed foreign income and asset of any previous year of an assessee shall be,— (a) the income from a source located outside India, which has not been disclosed in the return of income furnished within the time specified in Explanation 2 to sub-section (1) or under sub-section (4) or sub-section (5) of section 139 of the Income-tax Act; (b) the income, from a source located outside India, in respect of which a return is required to be furnished under section 139 of the Income-tax Act but no return of income has been furnished within the time specified in Explanation 2 to sub-section (1) or under sub-section (4) or sub-section (5) of section 139 of the said Act; and (c) the value of an undisclosed asset located outside India. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), any variation made in the income from a source outside India in the assessment or reassessment of the total income of any previous year, of the assessee under the Income-tax Act in accordance with the provisions of section 29 to section 43C or section 57 to section 59 or section 92C of the said Act shall not be included in the total undisclosed foreign income. (3) The income included in the total undisclosed foreign income and asset under this Act shall not form part of the total income under the Income-tax Act." Section 5 reads: "(1) In computing the total undisclosed foreign income and asset of any previous year of an assessee,— (i) no deduction in respect of any expenditure or allowance or set off of any loss shall be allowed to the assessee, whether or not it is allowable in accordance with the provisions of the Income-tax Act; (ii) any income,— (a) which has been assessed to tax for any assessment year under the Income-tax Act prior to the assessment year to which this Act applies; or (b) which is assessable or has been assessed to tax for any assessment year under this Act, shall be reduced from the value of the undisclosed asset located outside India, if, the assessee furnishes evidence to the satisfaction of the Assessing Officer that the asset has been acquired from the income which has been assessed or is assessable, as the case may be, to tax. (2) The amount of deduction referred to in clause (ii) of sub-section (1) in case of an immovable property shall be the amount which bears to the value of the asset as on the first day of the financial year in which it comes to the notice of the Assessing Officer, the same proportion as the assessable or assessed foreign income bears to the total cost of the asset." None of the three section pages prints a footnote.
Not a judgment. The statutory position is that the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 came into force on 1 July 2015 save as otherwise provided in it; that s.3(1) charges tax on every assessee for every assessment year commencing on or after 1 April 2016 on his total undisclosed foreign income and asset of the previous year at thirty per cent; that by the proviso to s.3(1) an undisclosed asset located outside India is charged to tax on its value in the previous year in which the asset comes to the notice of the Assessing Officer, so that the year of charge for an asset is the year of coming to notice and not the year of acquisition; that s.3(2) measures the charge on an asset by its fair market value determined in the prescribed manner; that s.4(1) brings into the total undisclosed income from a source outside India not disclosed within the time specified, income from such a source where no return was furnished within that time, and the value of an undisclosed asset located outside India, while s.4(2) excludes variations made under the specified computation provisions of the Income-tax Act and s.4(3) keeps what is charged under this Act out of total income under that Act; and that s.5 allows no deduction for expenditure or allowance and no set off of loss whether or not the Income-tax Act would allow it, permitting only the reduction in s.5(1)(ii) for income already assessed or assessable where the assessee furnishes evidence to the satisfaction of the Assessing Officer that the asset was acquired from that income, prorated under s.5(2) in the case of immovable property.
Not a judgment; no judicial reasoning is stated for the section.
Provided that an undisclosed asset located outside India shall be charged to tax on its value in the previous year in which such asset comes to the notice of the Assessing Officer.
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Handle my notice → Ask a CA on WhatsAppOn s.3(1) and its proviso. The Act came into force on 1 July 2015 (s.1(3): "Save as otherwise provided in this Act, it shall come into force on the 1st day of July, 2015"). Section 3(1) charges tax "on every assessee for every assessment year commencing on or after the 1st day of April, 2016 ... in respect of his total undisclosed foreign income and asset of the previous year at the rate of thirty per cent of such undisclosed income and asset". The proviso to s.3(1) is the provision that matters for an old asset: "Provided that an undisclosed asset located outside India shall be charged to tax on its value in the previous year in which such asset comes to the notice of the Assessing Officer." So the year of charge for an asset is not the year of acquisition but the year of coming to notice, and s.3(2) defines the "value of an undisclosed asset" as its fair market value determined in the prescribed manner. Section 4(1) puts three things into the total: (a) undisclosed income from a source outside India, (b) income from a source outside India where a return was required under s.139 of the Income-tax Act and none was furnished in time, and (c) the value of an undisclosed asset located outside India. Section 4(2) keeps out of the total any variation made under ss.29 to 43C, ss.57 to 59 or s.92C of the Income-tax Act, and s.4(3) keeps what is charged here out of total income under that Act. Section 5(1)(i) forbids any deduction for expenditure or allowance and any set off of loss, "whether or not it is allowable in accordance with the provisions of the Income-tax Act"; s.5(1)(ii) allows one reduction only — income already assessed or assessable under the Income-tax Act or under this Act is reduced from the value of the undisclosed asset if the assessee furnishes evidence to the Assessing Officer's satisfaction that the asset was acquired from that income — and s.5(2) prorates that reduction for immovable property. This was decided by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions (Not applicable — statutory text) and bears on section BMA s.1(3), section BMA s.3, section BMA s.3(1), section BMA s.3(2), section BMA s.4, section BMA s.4(1), section BMA s.4(1)(c), section BMA s.5, section BMA s.72(c), section 139, section 139(1), section 139(4), section 139(5), section 29, section 57, section 59, section 92C of the Income Tax Act 1961. It is reported as Sections 1, 3, 4 and 5 of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, transcribed from incometaxindia.gov.in/w/section-3-139 (heading "Charge of tax", Chapter II — Basis of Charge, Year stamp blank), incometaxindia.gov.in/w/section-4-140 (heading "Scope of total undisclosed foreign income and asset", Year stamp blank), incometaxindia.gov.in/w/section-5-139 (heading "Computation of total undisclosed foreign income and asset", Year stamp blank) and incometaxindia.gov.in/w/section-1-140 (heading "Short title, extent and commencement", Year stamp blank). Almost every contested Black Money assessment is an assessment of an asset, not of income, and the proviso to s.3(1) is what allows an asset acquired long before 1 July 2015 to be charged at all: the charge attaches in the previous year in which the asset comes to the notice of the Assessing Officer. A practitioner arguing retrospectivity has to meet the proviso first, and then s.72(c), which is dealt with in the companion entry on penalty and the transitional provisions. Two further points come straight off the section and are routinely missed. First, s.5(1)(i) removes the whole apparatus of deduction and set-off, so the thirty per cent is charged on value, not on gain — an assessee who funded a foreign asset out of borrowings gets no relief for them under this Act. Second, the ONLY reduction the Act permits is the one in s.5(1)(ii), and it is conditional on evidence to the satisfaction of the Assessing Officer that the asset was acquired from income already assessed or assessable; it is not a general credit for taxed income. THE LIBRARY ALREADY HOLDS DECISIONS the reader should be sent to instead of this page for the contested questions: Union of India v Gautam Khaitan on s.1(3) and the date from which the Act operates; Jt CIT v Akhilesh Singh on the threshold question of what is an undisclosed foreign asset; Atanu Banerjee v DDIT on an asset bought while the assessee was non-resident; JCIT v Vikash Marda on the first assessment year; and Satish Gopal Rao v DDIT on s.72(c) reaching assets rather than income. This entry states the text those decisions are applied to and nothing more. If it applies to you, the first step is this: Identify which clause of s.4(1) the officer is using — (a) income not disclosed, (b) income where no return was furnished in time, or (c) the value of an undisclosed asset — and make him say so, because the year of charge and the measure of the charge differ between them.
Section 1(3), as printed on the departmental page, reads: "Save as otherwise provided in this Act, it shall come into force on the 1st day of July, 2015." The words "1st day of July, 2015" carry a footnote on that page, transcribed verbatim: "Substituted for “1st day of April, 2016” by the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act (Removal of Difficulties) Order, 2015, w.e.f. 1-7-2015." The Act was therefore originally to come into force on 1 April 2016 and the commencement was brought forward to 1 July 2015 by that Order. Section 1(1) gives the short title and s.1(2) provides that "It extends to the whole of India." Section 3, under the chapter heading "CHAPTER II — BASIS OF CHARGE" and the marginal heading "Charge of tax", reads: "(1) There shall be charged on every assessee for every assessment year commencing on or after the 1st day of April, 2016, subject to the provisions of this Act, a tax in respect of his total undisclosed foreign income and asset of the previous year at the rate of thirty per cent of such undisclosed income and asset: Provided that an undisclosed asset located outside India shall be charged to tax on its value in the previous year in which such asset comes to the notice of the Assessing Officer. (2) For the purposes of this section 'value of an undisclosed asset' means the fair market value of an asset (including financial interest in any entity) determined in such manner as may be prescribed." Section 4 reads: "(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the total undisclosed foreign income and asset of any previous year of an assessee shall be,— (a) the income from a source located outside India, which has not been disclosed in the return of income furnished within the time specified in Explanation 2 to sub-section (1) or under sub-section (4) or sub-section (5) of section 139 of the Income-tax Act; (b) the income, from a source located outside India, in respect of which a return is required to be furnished under section 139 of the Income-tax Act but no return of income has been furnished within the time specified in Explanation 2 to sub-section (1) or under sub-section (4) or sub-section (5) of section 139 of the said Act; and (c) the value of an undisclosed asset located outside India. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), any variation made in the income from a source outside India in the assessment or reassessment of the total income of any previous year, of the assessee under the Income-tax Act in accordance with the provisions of section 29 to section 43C or section 57 to section 59 or section 92C of the said Act shall not be included in the total undisclosed foreign income. (3) The income included in the total undisclosed foreign income and asset under this Act shall not form part of the total income under the Income-tax Act." Section 5 reads: "(1) In computing the total undisclosed foreign income and asset of any previous year of an assessee,— (i) no deduction in respect of any expenditure or allowance or set off of any loss shall be allowed to the assessee, whether or not it is allowable in accordance with the provisions of the Income-tax Act; (ii) any income,— (a) which has been assessed to tax for any assessment year under the Income-tax Act prior to the assessment year to which this Act applies; or (b) which is assessable or has been assessed to tax for any assessment year under this Act, shall be reduced from the value of the undisclosed asset located outside India, if, the assessee furnishes evidence to the satisfaction of the Assessing Officer that the asset has been acquired from the income which has been assessed or is assessable, as the case may be, to tax. (2) The amount of deduction referred to in clause (ii) of sub-section (1) in case of an immovable property shall be the amount which bears to the value of the asset as on the first day of the financial year in which it comes to the notice of the Assessing Officer, the same proportion as the assessable or assessed foreign income bears to the total cost of the asset." None of the three section pages prints a footnote. The matter was decided on 2015-07-01 by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions (Not applicable — statutory text). On those facts the CBDT Circulars & Instructions held as follows. Not a judgment. The statutory position is that the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 came into force on 1 July 2015 save as otherwise provided in it; that s.3(1) charges tax on every assessee for every assessment year commencing on or after 1 April 2016 on his total undisclosed foreign income and asset of the previous year at thirty per cent; that by the proviso to s.3(1) an undisclosed asset located outside India is charged to tax on its value in the previous year in which the asset comes to the notice of the Assessing Officer, so that the year of charge for an asset is the year of coming to notice and not the year of acquisition; that s.3(2) measures the charge on an asset by its fair market value determined in the prescribed manner; that s.4(1) brings into the total undisclosed income from a source outside India not disclosed within the time specified, income from such a source where no return was furnished within that time, and the value of an undisclosed asset located outside India, while s.4(2) excludes variations made under the specified computation provisions of the Income-tax Act and s.4(3) keeps what is charged under this Act out of total income under that Act; and that s.5 allows no deduction for expenditure or allowance and no set off of loss whether or not the Income-tax Act would allow it, permitting only the reduction in s.5(1)(ii) for income already assessed or assessable where the assessee furnishes evidence to the satisfaction of the Assessing Officer that the asset was acquired from that income, prorated under s.5(2) in the case of immovable property.
Not a judgment; no judicial reasoning is stated for the section. In the words reproduced by the source cited on this page: "Provided that an undisclosed asset located outside India shall be charged to tax on its value in the previous year in which such asset comes to the notice of the Assessing Officer."
It was decided by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions on 2015-07-01 and is reported as Sections 1, 3, 4 and 5 of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, transcribed from incometaxindia.gov.in/w/section-3-139 (heading "Charge of tax", Chapter II — Basis of Charge, Year stamp blank), incometaxindia.gov.in/w/section-4-140 (heading "Scope of total undisclosed foreign income and asset", Year stamp blank), incometaxindia.gov.in/w/section-5-139 (heading "Computation of total undisclosed foreign income and asset", Year stamp blank) and incometaxindia.gov.in/w/section-1-140 (heading "Short title, extent and commencement", Year stamp blank). Binding on the department, not on the assessee or the courts. An assessee may rely on a circular that is beneficial to them. A CBDT circular or instruction binds officers of the department but not the assessee and not the courts. Where a circular helps you, you may hold the department to it. Where it hurts you, it cannot override the Act or a judgment. On section BMA s.1(3), section BMA s.3, section BMA s.3(1), section BMA s.3(2), section BMA s.4, section BMA s.4(1), section BMA s.4(1)(c), section BMA s.5, section BMA s.72(c), section 139, section 139(1), section 139(4), section 139(5), section 29, section 57, section 59, section 92C, the practical question is whether the facts of your own notice match the facts of this case closely enough for the same rule to apply.
It cuts both ways and is cited by both sides. Not a judgment. The statutory position is that the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 came into force on 1 July 2015 save as otherwise provided in it; that s.3(1) charges tax on every assessee for every assessment year commencing on or after 1 April 2016 on his total undisclosed foreign income and asset of the previous year at thirty per cent; that by the proviso to s.3(1) an undisclosed asset located outside India is charged to tax on its value in the previous year in which the asset comes to the notice of the Assessing Officer, so that the year of charge for an asset is the year of coming to notice and not the year of acquisition; that s.3(2) measures the charge on an asset by its fair market value determined in the prescribed manner; that s.4(1) brings into the total undisclosed income from a source outside India not disclosed within the time specified, income from such a source where no return was furnished within that time, and the value of an undisclosed asset located outside India, while s.4(2) excludes variations made under the specified computation provisions of the Income-tax Act and s.4(3) keeps what is charged under this Act out of total income under that Act; and that s.5 allows no deduction for expenditure or allowance and no set off of loss whether or not the Income-tax Act would allow it, permitting only the reduction in s.5(1)(ii) for income already assessed or assessable where the assessee furnishes evidence to the satisfaction of the Assessing Officer that the asset was acquired from that income, prorated under s.5(2) in the case of immovable property. It arises in Assessment & Scrutiny and How Tax Law Is Read matters, on section BMA s.1(3), section BMA s.3, section BMA s.3(1), section BMA s.3(2), section BMA s.4, section BMA s.4(1), section BMA s.4(1)(c), section BMA s.5, section BMA s.72(c), section 139, section 139(1), section 139(4), section 139(5), section 29, section 57, section 59, section 92C of the Income Tax Act 1961, and was decided by Not applicable — statutory text. Before relying on it, read the source linked on this page and check whether it has since been distinguished, overruled or overtaken by an amendment to the Income Tax Act. In practice the steps that follow from it are these. If the charge is on an asset under s.4(1)(c), the year is fixed by the proviso to s.3(1): the previous year in which the asset came to the notice of the Assessing Officer. Pin the officer to a date and a document for that coming to notice and check the year of charge against it. Take the valuation point separately: s.3(2) charges the fair market value "determined in such manner as may be prescribed", so the valuation rules made under the Act govern, and a valuation that does not follow them is open to challenge on its own footing. Claim the s.5(1)(ii) reduction with evidence, not assertion — the sub-section requires evidence to the satisfaction of the Assessing Officer that the asset was acquired from income assessed or assessable, and for immovable property the deduction is prorated under s.5(2). Do not argue for any expenditure, allowance or set-off: s.5(1)(i) excludes them expressly and regardless of what the Income-tax Act would allow.
Validity check could not be completed. The text stated is what the departmental pages print, but currency cannot be established from those pages. Every Black Money Act page read carries a "Year:" field that is BLANK, so there is no edition stamp of the kind the Income-tax Act pages carry and no way to tell which edition is being served or whether a later one exists. The s.3, s.4 and s.5 pages print no footnote at all, so no amending Act or effective date is recorded on them; that is consistent with the text being as enacted on 1 July 2015 but does not establish it. That other Black Money Act pages on the same site DO print footnotes (s.10 carries "Inserted by the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2019, w.r.e.f. 1-7-2015" and s.43 carries a 2024 substitution footnote) shows the footnote apparatus is in use on this Act, which is some comfort that the absence of a footnote on ss.3 to 5 means the absence of an amendment; it is not proof. No Gazette copy of the Act and no departmental PDF of the Act was reachable to check against — the indexed Bill PDF returns 404 and the legacy /Acts/ tree is dead. I did not read any judgment on this pass and make no statement about judicial treatment of ss.3, 4 or 5. No source could be cited for that finding. Checking whether an authority still stands matters as much as knowing what it held: a decision may be overruled on one point and survive on another, or the provision it interprets may have been amended since. Read the source and the editor's note on this page before relying on it in a reply to an Assessing Officer or in an appeal.
SOURCING AND HOW THE DEPARTMENTAL SITE WAS NAVIGATED FOR THIS ACT. The Black Money Act is served on incometaxindia.gov.in in the same /w/section-<n>-<k> space as the Income-tax Act, and the suffix carries no meaning a reader can rely on: /w/section-3-139 is s.3 of the Black Money Act, /w/section-3-56 is s.3 of the Income-tax Act (Year: 2015), /w/section-3-71 is s.3 of a Finance Act (Year: 1999), /w/section-3-154 is s.3 of the Credit Information Companies (Regulation) Act, 2005, /w/section-3-155 is the Depositories Act and /w/section-3-156 the Designs Act. The same shape serves the Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Arbitration and Conciliation Act and others. EVERY page opened for this entry was identified by the Act name the page itself prints, and no page was accepted on the strength of its URL. NO 'Year:' STAMP. The Black Money Act pages carry a 'Year:' field but it is BLANK on every one of them — s.1, s.3, s.4, s.5, s.10, s.11, s.15, s.41, s.42, s.43 and s.72 alike. These pages therefore cannot be dated from the page itself, and currency has to be judged from the footnotes instead. The s.1 page DOES print a footnote, transcribed verbatim: "Substituted for “1st day of April, 2016” by the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act (Removal of Difficulties) Order, 2015, w.e.f. 1-7-2015." That is worth having: the Act was originally to commence on 1 April 2016 and the commencement was brought forward to 1 July 2015 by that Order, which is a fact a reader arguing about the reach of the Act back in time will want. The s.3, s.4 and s.5 pages print NO footnote at all, which is consistent with the text being as enacted but does not prove it. DEAD PAGES FOUND THIS PASS: the search index still returns the legacy addresses incometaxindia.gov.in/acts/black money (undisclosed foreign income and assets) and imposition of tax act, 2015/102120000000041862.htm (indexed as 'Computation of total undisclosed foreign income and asset') and the corresponding /Acts/BLACK MONEY .../102120000000041874.htm ('Powers of Commissioner (Appeals)'), and both return 404, as does the whole legacy /Acts/ tree including the Income-tax Act files under it and the legacy SharePoint viewer at /_layouts/15/dit/pages/viewer.aspx. A reader who follows a search result to those addresses will get nothing; the live text is in the /w/ space. The Act's own landing page at /black-money-undisclosed-foreign-income-and-assets-and-imposition-of-tax-act-2015 loads its section list by script and returns no section links to a fetch, and the site sitemap does not list the /w/ pages, so the section pages cannot be enumerated from the site itself. I did not locate the Bill or a Gazette copy of the Act on the site: incometaxindia.gov.in/Documents/Undisclosed-Foreign-Income-Bill-2015.pdf is indexed but returns 404. NOT ESTABLISHED: whether the pages read reflect any amendment made after the last footnoted amendment on them, because there is no Year stamp and no later edition of these sections was located. This library shows the verification state of every entry openly. This entry has not yet been read in full by a chartered accountant. The summary reflects the sources listed on this page. Read the source before you rely on it in a reply to an Assessing Officer or in an appeal before the Commissioner (Appeals) or the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal.
Not a judgment. The statutory position is that the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 came into force on 1 July 2015 save as otherwise provided in it; that s.3(1) charges tax on every assessee for every assessment year commencing on or after 1 April 2016 on his total undisclosed foreign income and asset of the previous year at thirty per cent; that by the proviso to s.3(1) an undisclosed asset located outside India is charged to tax on its value in the previous year in which the asset comes to the notice of the Assessing Officer, so that the year of charge for an asset is the year of coming to notice and not the year of acquisition; that s.3(2) measures the charge on an asset by its fair market value determined in the prescribed manner; that s.4(1) brings into the total undisclosed income from a source outside India not disclosed within the time specified, income from such a source where no return was furnished within that time, and the value of an undisclosed asset located outside India, while s.4(2) excludes variations made under the specified computation provisions of the Income-tax Act and s.4(3) keeps what is charged under this Act out of total income under that Act; and that s.5 allows no deduction for expenditure or allowance and no set off of loss whether or not the Income-tax Act would allow it, permitting only the reduction in s.5(1)(ii) for income already assessed or assessable where the assessee furnishes evidence to the satisfaction of the Assessing Officer that the asset was acquired from that income, prorated under s.5(2) in the case of immovable property.
TaxSphere, “Statutory position — s.3 of the Black Money Act: the charge at thirty per cent, the proviso to s.3(1) that fixes the year of charge for an undisclosed foreign asset, and what ss.4 and 5 bring in and refuse to take out”, https://taxnotice.vittsphere.com/caselaw/case/statutory-position-bma-3-4-5-the-charge-and-its-scope/ (validity last checked 2026-09-17)
The judgment itself is a government work and may be quoted freely. The summary, the validity note and the reasoning on this page are this library's own writing: quote them with attribution, and please do not present either as the words of the court — this page keeps the two apart and so should a quotation of it.
Every entry in this library links to where it was found, so you can check it yourself rather than take our word for it.
The s.10 notice does not say which year it relates to, and my foreign account was inherited and already put in a revised return. Can the assessment stand?
The assessment under the Black Money Act has been quashed. Does the s.41 penalty go with it, and does the s.43 penalty go too?
The department says the Black Money Act applies to my foreign account from July 2015. Is that retrospective?
The officer has provisionally attached my property in a Black Money Act proceeding. Where does that power come from, and is s.3(2) under challenge?
