The government has tried to plug all loopholes that high earners may have to save tax. An estimated 1.5 lakh taxpayers earning over Rs50 lakh a year are going to experience a new development when they file their tax returns this year as a new ITR form has been introduced for such taxpayers.

Although the provision for declaring assets is already there in ITR 2 and ITR 3, which is filled by people having income from business or profession—the income limit for disclosing of assets in ITR 2 and 3 has been increased from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 50 lakh.

According to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the amount in respect of assets to be reported will be the cost price of such assets to the assessee and if the precious items had been received as gifts, the assessee will have to declare the cost of acquisition by the previous owner along with value additions. The assessee will also have to declare whether such items and their value were disclosed at the time of filing wealth tax returns earlier.

Falling in the net

• Earn over Rs 50 lakh annually
• Disclose acquisition cost of all the assets like land, building and jewellery
• Luxury items include utensils, apparels and furniture studded with precious stones, ornaments made of gold, silver, platinum or any other precious metal or alloy

New details emerged after the CBDT had notified the new ITR Forms for assessment year 2016-17 and introduced a fresh reporting column in ITR-1, ITR-2 and 2A called ‘Asset and Liability at the end of the year’ which is applicable in cases where the total income exceeds Rs 50 lakh. Individuals and entities coming under this total income bracket will have to mention the total cost of movable and immovable assets. The immovable assets include land and building, movable assets to be disclosed were cash in hand, jewellery, bullion, vehicles, yachts, boats, aircraft, etc.

olmdesk@outlookindia.com