Calcuttans rush to catch the VDIS bus

NEW DELHI, Dec 23: The Metropolitan Calcutta appears to be way ahead of other cities in making "unusual" declarations under the V...

NEW DELHI, Dec 23: The Metropolitan Calcutta appears to be way ahead of other cities in making "unusual" declarations under the Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme (VDIS) 1997. Sources in the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) claim that over 200 "unusual" cases – a majority involving declarations of huge quantities of silver – have already been detected and kept aside for further action.

Income-Tax officials explain that it was due to the concentration of a large number of silversmiths and Marwari businessmen in Calcutta that such large quantities of silver were probably declared – at least on paper.

Calcutta is said to be followed by Kanpur and New Delhi for making "unusual" declarations, in some cases of joint families coming forward to declare upto 2,000 kilograms of silver.

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However, officials point out, the recent order of the Delhi High Court restraining investigations into Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme declarations with a retrospective effect was not going to jeopardise the scheme. The High Court order, delivered on December 19, asked the Department to issue receipts instead of VDIS certificates in cases of unusual declarations and to refrain from investigations till the scheme closed on December 31.

Income-Tax Commissioners point out that the High Court’s directives worked in tandem with their own modifications in the VDIS. After November 25, all declarations of silver, in the shape of utensils or coins or antiques, were required to be backed by bills of purchase as well as an affidavit.

Since this also had to apply retrospectively for "unusual" cases, a number of declarations were scrutinised and proof of purchase demanded from a majority of persons in Calcutta.

Such assessees had a three-month deadline to furnish the documents, failing which the value of the silver and silver articles would be assessed at April 1997 prices. Thus, all those who given false affidavits or declared substantial quantities of non-existent silver and misused VDIS, would now be forced to accept a level-playing field and pay tax for the declared articles at almost current prices.

Ritu Sarin

Ritu Sarin is Executive Editor (News and Investigations) at The Indian Express group. Her areas of specialisation include internal security, money laundering and corruption. Sarin is one of India’s most renowned reporters and has a career in journalism of over four decades. She is a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) since 1999 and since early 2023, a member of its Board of Directors. She has also been a founder member of the ICIJ Network Committee (INC). She has, to begin with, alone, and later led teams which have worked on ICIJ’s Offshore Leaks, Swiss Leaks, the Pulitzer Prize winning Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, Implant Files, Fincen Files, Pandora Papers, the Uber Files and Deforestation Inc. She has conducted investigative journalism workshops and addressed investigative journalism conferences with a specialisation on collaborative journalism in several countries. ... Read More