At a time when the government is facing flak from civil society activists over the issue of handling of black money cases, the finance ministry on Friday said tax evasion of a little over Rs 600-crore was detected, following processing of information received from Germany and France. Of this, taxes of Rs 200 crore have already been realised, it said.

The information was received by Indian authorities under the double taxation avoidance agreement with the two countries, said a fact sheet released by the finance ministry on the initiatives taken by the government to unearth black money and curb its generation. 

Of the information received, tax authorities have initiated assessment proceedings in cases relating to HSBC accounts, and also initiated prosecution proceedings in 17 cases pertaining to LGT Bank accounts.

The list of 700 Indians who allegedly hold undisclosed HSBC accounts in Geneva was given to the government by French authorities last year. India had also received information from Germany in 2008 about 26 Indian account holders of LGT Bank, situated in Liechtenstein, a small country in Europe.

The fact sheet said the income tax department detected undisclosed income of over Rs 32,000 crore following various searches, seizures and surveys during the last three financial years. It said tax authorities also seized undisclosed assets worth Rs 2,600 crore. The surveys on business premises resulted in detection of undisclosed income of Rs 17,325 crore.

The finance ministry said it had received about 12,500 pieces of information regarding details of asset and payments received by Indians abroad.

These pieces of information are “under different stages of processing and investigation. Also, 30,765 pieces of domestic information on suspicious transactions have been obtained by FIU, which are being probed by agencies concerned.”

The fact sheet said the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) was coordinating with the Election Commission to control political expenditure and to verify affidavits filed by politicians fighting elections. (Business Standard)