CBDT's 'Trust First' drive spurs Rs 29,000 cr foreign asset disclosure by over 30K taxpayers

TAXPAYER-FRIENDLY APPROACH WORKS!

- SIMONTINI BHATTACHARJEE

Fostering tax compliance, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has successfully encouraged 30,161 taxpayers to declare foreign assets worth over Rs 29,000 crore under its Compliance-Cum-Awareness Campaign, government sources claimed on Thursday. The initiative, which emphasised a 'Trust First' approach, sought to promote voluntary disclosure rather than enforcement-driven compliance.

Sources also confirmed that in September last year, India received financial information from over 108 countries regarding foreign accounts and income in the form of interest and dividends earned outside India. Leveraging this data, obtained through the automatic exchange of information framework under the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and the Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), the CBDT launched the campaign on November 17, 2024, urging taxpayers to revise their Income Tax Returns (ITRs) for the Assessment Year (AY) 2024-25 and declare their foreign assets and income.