As the government of India focuses its attention on the fight against tax evasion, a specialized tax investigations unit is reporting that it has uncovered over INR 55 billion (approx. USD 1.22 billion) in evaded excise duties and services taxes last year. The Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence (DGCEI) of India, an agency within the Central Board of Excise & Customs that is charged with investigation of tax evasion, released on May 19th its performance results for the 2010 fiscal year, ... Read More

Indian tax authorities are using a new data matching project to detect taxpayers who attempt to hide their assets and incomes in offshore tax havens. The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU), a department within the Income Tax Department (ITD) of India, is cooperating with the airlines, the Central Board of Excise and Customs, and even with travel agencies across the country to build a comprehensive database of Indian taxpayers traveling to countries considered by tax authorities to be tax havens. The collected data will ... Read More

Amnesty programs for undeclared offshore funds may send the wrong message to taxpayers, according to the government of India. The government of India has indicated that it has no intentions to instate a tax amnesty program to draw back illicit money hidden in offshore accounts. At a press conference over the weekend in New Dehli the Revenue Secretary Sunil Mitra revealed that the an amnesty program had not even been a real consideration for the government in its current budgetary planning process, ... Read More

Indian tax authorities have conducted raids on mobile phone sellers across New Delhi, discovering evidence of significant levels of tax evasion. On March 13th the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) released a statement saying that a series of raids have been conducted on several mobile phone retailers around New Delhi who were selling phones which were not properly registered and are considered to be a potential security threat. According to the CBDT, retailers have been importing mobile phones which do not have the ... Read More

The Finance Minister of India has announced that a tax amnesty could be initiated in the near future, with the aim of bringing back capital hidden in offshore accounts. On January 25th the Finance Minister of India Pranab Mukherjee indicated at a press conference held in New Dehli that the Government was not averse to the idea of initiating a tax amnesty for tax offenders to declare their illicit financial actions in return for reduced penalties. The announcement was part of the Government’s ... Read More