Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015

Appearance by authorised representative (1) Any assessee who is entitled or required to attend before any tax authority or the Appellate Tribunal, in connection with any proceeding under this Act, may attend through an authorised representative. (2) The provisions of sub-section (1) shall not apply in a case where the assessee is required to attend personally for examination on oath or affirmation under section 8. (3) In this section, “authorised representative” means a person authorised by the assessee in writing to appear on his behalf, being— (a) a person related to the assessee in any manner, or a person regularly employed by the assessee; (b) any officer of a scheduled bank with which the assessee maintains a current account or has other regular dealings; (c) any legal practitioner who is entitled to practice in any civil court in India; (d) an accountant; (e) any person who has passed any accountancy examination recognised in this behalf by the Board; or (f) any person who has acquired such educational qualifications as may be prescribed. (4) The following persons shall not be qualified to represent an assessee under sub-section (1), namely:— (a) a person who has been dismissed or removed from Government service; (b) a legal practitioner, or an accountant, who is found guilty of misconduct in his professional capacity by any authority entitled to institute disciplinary proceedings against him; (c) a person, not being a legal practitioner or an accountant, who is found guilty of misconduct in any tax proceedings by such authority as may be prescribed. (5) The Principal Chief Commissioner or the Chief Commissioner may, by an order in writing, specify the period up to which the disqualification under sub-section (4) shall continue, having regard to the nature of misconduct and such disqualification shall not exceed— (i) in case of clauses (a) and (c) of sub-section (4), a period of ten years; (ii) in case of clause (b) of sub-section (4), the period for which the legal practitioner or an accountant is not entitled to practice. (6) A person shall not be allowed to appear as an authorised representative, if he has committed any fraud or misrepresented the facts which resulted in loss to the revenue and that person has been declared as such by an order of the Principal Chief Commissioner or the Chief Commissioner. Explanation.—In this section, “accountant” means a chartered accountant as defined in clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 (38 of 1949) who holds a valid certificate of practice under sub-section (1) of section 6 of that Act.

Appearance by approved valuer in certain matters (1) Any assessee who is entitled or required to attend before any tax authority or the Appellate Tribunal, in connection with any matter relating to the valuation of any asset, may attend through a valuer approved by the Principal Commissioner or the Commissioner in accordance with such rules as may be prescribed. (2) The provisions of sub-section (1) shall not apply in a case where the assessee is required to attend personally for examination on oath or affirmation under section 8.

Notice deemed to be valid in certain circumstances (1) A notice which is required to be served upon a person for the purposes of assessment under this Act shall be deemed to have been duly served upon him in accordance with the provisions of this Act, if the person has appeared in any proceeding or co-operated in any inquiry relating to an assessment. (2) The person, referred to in sub-section (1), shall be precluded from taking any objection in any proceeding or inquiry under this Act that the notice was— (a) not served upon him; (b) not served upon him in time; or (c) served upon him in an improper manner. (3) The provisions of this section shall not apply, if the person has raised the objection before the completion of the assessment.

Authentication of notices and other documents (1) A notice or any other document required to be issued, served or given for the purposes of this Act by any tax authority shall be authenticated by that authority. (2) Every notice or other document to be issued, served or given for the purposes of this Act by any tax authority shall be deemed to be authenticated, if the name and office of a designated tax authority is printed, stamped or otherwise written thereon. (3) In this section, a designated tax authority shall mean any tax authority authorised by the Board to issue, serve or give such notice or other document after authentication in the manner as provided in sub-section (2).

Service of notice generally (1) The service of any notice, summons, requisition, order or any other communication under this Act (herein referred to in this section as “communication”) may be made by delivering or transmitting a copy thereof, to the person named therein,— (a) by post or by such courier service as may be approved by the Board; (b) in such manner as provided under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908) for the purposes of service of summons; (c) in the form of any electronic record as provided in Chapter IV of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000); or (d) by any other means of transmission of documents, including fax message or electronic mail message, as may be prescribed. (2) The Board may make rules providing for the addresses including the address for electronic mail or electronic mail message to which the communication referred to in sub-section (1) may be delivered or transmitted to the person named therein. (3) In this section, the expressions “electronic mail” and “electronic mail message” shall have the same meanings as assigned to them in the Explanation to section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000).

Agreement with foreign countries or specified territories (1) The Central Government may enter into an agreement with the Government of any other country— (a) for exchange of information for the prevention of evasion or avoidance of tax on undisclosed foreign income chargeable under this Act or under the corresponding law in force in that country, or investigation of cases of such evasion or avoidance; (b) for recovery of tax under this Act and under the corresponding law in force in that country. (2) The Central Government may enter into an agreement with the Government of any specified territory outside India for the purposes specified in sub-section (1). (3) The Central Government may, by notification, make such provisions as may be necessary for implementing the agreements referred to in sub-sections (1) and (2). (4) Any specified association in India may enter into an agreement with any specified association in the specified territory outside India for the purposes of sub-section (1) and the Central Government may by notification make such provisions as may be necessary for adopting and implementing such agreement. (5) Any term used but not defined in this Act or in the agreement referred to in sub-sections (1), (2) or sub-section (4) shall, unless the context otherwise requires, and is not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act or the agreement, have the meaning assigned to it in the notification issued by the Central Government and such meaning shall be deemed to have effect from the date on which the said agreement came into force.

Removal of doubts  For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that— (a) save as otherwise expressly provided in the Explanation to sub-section (1) of section 69, nothing contained in this Chapter shall be construed as conferring any benefit, concession or immunity on any person other than the person making the declaration under this Chapter; (b) where any declaration has been made under section 59 but no tax and penalty has been paid within the time specified under section 60 and section 61, the value of such asset shall be chargeable to tax under this Act in the previous year in which such declaration is made; (c) where any asset has been acquired or made prior to commencement of this Act, and no declaration in respect of such asset is made under this Chapter, such asset shall be deemed to have been acquired or made in the year in which a notice under section 10 is issued by the Assessing Officer and the provisions of this Act shall apply accordingly.

Chapter not to apply to certain persons The provisions of this Chapter shall not apply— (a) to any person in respect of whom an order of detention has been made under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974 (52 of 1974): Provided that—  (i) such order of detention, being an order to which the provisions of section 9 or section 12A of the said Act do not apply, has not been revoked on the report of the Advisory Board under section 8 of the said Act or before the receipt of the report of the Advisory Board; or  (ii) such order of detention, being an order to which the provisions of section 9 of the said Act apply, has not been revoked before the expiry of the time for, or on the basis of, the review under sub-section (3) of section 9, or on the report of the Advisory Board under section 8, read with sub-section (2) of section 9, of the said Act; or  (iii) such order of detention, being an order to which the provisions of section 12A of the said Act apply, has not been revoked before the expiry of the time for, or on the basis of, the first review under sub-section (3) of that section, or on the basis of the report of the Advisory Board under section 8, read with sub-section (6) of section 12A, of the said Act; or  (iv) such order of detention has not been set aside by a court of competent jurisdiction; (b) in relation to prosecution for any offence punishable under Chapter IX or Chapter XVII of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860), the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (61 of 1985), the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (37 of 1967), the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (49 of 1988); (c) to any person notified under section 3 of the Special Court (Trial of Offences Relating to Transactions in Securities) Act, 1992 (27 of 1992). (d) in relation to any undisclosed asset located outside India which has been acquired from income chargeable to tax under the Income-tax Act for any previous year relevant to an assessment year prior to the assessment year beginning on the 1st day of April, 2016—  (i) where a notice under section 142 or sub-section (2) of section 143 or section 148 or section 153A or section 153C of the Income-tax Act has been issued in respect of such assessment year and the proceeding is pending before the Assessing Officer; or  (ii) where a search has been conducted under section 132 or requisition has been made under section 132A or a survey has been carried out under section 133A of the Income-tax Act in a previous year and a notice under sub-section (2) of section 143 for the assessment year relevant to such previous year or a notice under section 153A or under section 153C of the said Act for an assessment year relevant to any previous year prior to such previous year has not been issued and the time for issuance of such notice has not expired; or  (iii) where any information has been received by the competent authority under an agreement entered into by the Central Government under section 90 or section 90A of the Income-tax Act in respect of such undisclosed asset. Explanation.—For the purpose of this sub-clause asset shall include a bank account whether having any balance or not.

Applicability of certain provisions of Income-tax Act and of Chapter V of Wealth-tax Act  The provisions of Chapter XV of the Income-tax Act relating to liability in special cases and of section 189 of that Act or of Chapter V of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 (27 of 1957) relating to liability to assessment in special cases shall, so far as may be, apply in relation to proceedings under this Chapter as they apply in relation to proceedings under the Income-tax Act or, as the case may be, the Wealth-tax Act.

Exemption from wealth-tax in respect of assets specified in declaration (1) Where the undisclosed asset located outside India is represented by cash (including bank deposits), bullion or any other assets specified in the declaration made under section 59— (a) in respect of which the declarant has failed to furnish a return under section 14 of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 (27 of 1957) for the assessment year commencing on or before the 1st day of April, 2015; or (b) which have not been shown in the return of net wealth furnished by him for the said assessment year or years; or (c) which have been understated in value in the return of net wealth furnished by him for the said assessment year or years, then, notwithstanding anything contained in the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 (27 of 1957) or any rules made thereunder,— (I) wealth-tax shall not be payable by the declarant in respect of the assets referred to in clause (a) or clause (b) and such assets shall not be included in his net wealth for the said assessment year or years; (II) the amount by which the value of the assets referred to in clause (c) has been understated in the return of net wealth for the said assessment year or years, to the extent such amount does not exceed the voluntarily disclosed income utilised for acquiring such assets, shall not be taken into account in computing the net wealth of the declarant for the said assessment year or years. Explanation.—Where a declaration under section 59 is made by a firm, the assets referred to in clause (I) or, as the case may be, the amount referred to in clause (II) shall not be taken into account in computing the net wealth of any partner of the firm or, as the case may be, in determining the value of the interest of any partner in the firm. (2) The provisions of sub-section (1) shall not apply unless the conditions specified in sub-sections (1) and (2) of section 63 are fulfilled by the declarant.