Mumbai Tribunal upholds penalty under black money law for non-disclosure of foreign assets in tax return

 This Tax Alert summarizes a ruling of the Mumbai Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (Tribunal) dated 9 August 2023, in the case of Shobha Harish Thawani v. JCIT ^[1] (Taxpayer), wherein the Tribunal upheld penalty under The Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 (BMA) for failure to disclose foreign assets under “Schedule FA-Details of foreign assets and income from any source outside India” of the tax return. The Tribunal rejected the Taxpayer’s contentions that investment in the foreign asset was from disclosed sources and was explainable; income from such foreign asset was offered to tax in the relevant tax year and non-disclosure was due to an inadvertent error by the Taxpayer.

^[1] TS-554-ITAT-2023(Mum)