Curbs on Black Money: PAN mandatory for cash deals

San Francisco: In a stern message on black money, finance minister Arun Jaitley has said the government is targeting to weed out the root causes of this menace and would shortly make mentioning PAN mandatory for paying cash beyond a certain limit. “I am also going to very shortly announce that if you pay by cash beyond a certain limit the limit has to be announced giving your PAN card is necessary,” Mr Jaitley told PTI in an interview.

To curb black money in India, the government has recently announced that any cash transaction over Rs 20,000 would be prohibited for property deals. The dealings in real estate are expected involve huge amounts of black money. Recalling the response this step had on some people, Mr Jaitley said a number of delegations have met him on this issue where people have opposed this move, “as if transaction in black money is a fundamental right”.

“The world is changing. If you pay taxes, then it enables the government to reduce the level of taxes. India is also on the forefront of the entire G-20 effort for automatic transmission of information.”“We would be signing the agreement with the United States FATCA for automatic sharing of transaction related to Indian citizens by the US and other countries that are going to sign FATCA. These are all very tough measures we are announcing,” he said.

Mr Jaitley also said that a new law on curbing black money has created a fear psychosis in the mind of the tax evaders. The law will come into effect from April 1, 2016.“The same set of people who would get up and say take action against black money would now say this is too draconian. But this is one law, which I am not going to relent neither the PM will,” he said. He, however, said that the government is in the process of putting in place a compliance window for those with undeclared assets abroad to come clean by paying the penalty.