Summary of this article
NUDGE campaign helped generate Rs 8,800 crore additional tax
Over 1.11 crore revised and updated returns filed
Rs 1,750 crore refund claims withdrawn after tax notices
The income tax department collected about Rs 8,800 crore in additional tax in two years, and prevented refund claims worth Rs 1,750 crore last year, aided by the 'NUDGE' campaign, CBDT Chairman Ravi Agrawal said on Wednesday.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the administrative body of the Income-Tax Department, has undertaken two NUDGE or Non-Intrusive Usage of Data to Guide and Enable programmes till now, under which it sends a communication through email or SMS to inform a taxpayer about a certain income or transaction, which it thinks has not been reported and the information can be furnished afresh through an updated or revised return.
Speaking to PTI during a post-Budget interview, Agrawal said that the campaign resulted in the filing of 1.11 crore revised and updated returns over the last two years.
Over the last two years, more than 1.11 crore revised returns and updated returns have been filed, and the amount of tax obtained by the government through this was about Rs 8,800 crore, Agrawal said.
The total amount also includes the Rs 1,750 crore of refund claims that were retracted by taxpayers last year in their revised returns, he said.
"We prompted and showed taxpayers through the NUDGE programme that this is what we have observed. You would like to again review, and Rs 1,750 crore of refund claims have been reduced," Agrawal said.
When asked if this was the reason that refunds were being issued slowly after the filing of returns last year, the CBDT chief replied in the affirmative, saying the analysis of returns filed after NUDGE was being done by the I-T department.
The CBDT launched the first NUDGE campaign in November 2024 for taxpayers who had undisclosed foreign assets for the assessment year 2024-25, while the second such campaign was launched in November 2025 for AY 2025-26.
The point is that the more processes are efficient, the more information you get, which helps the taxpayer towards compliance and automatically leads to widening as well as deepening of the tax base, he said.
Talking about the scheme for a one-time declaration of foreign assets by small category taxpayers announced in the FY27 budget, he said the department aims that all the processes -- from seeking declarations to final assessment -- related to this special window will be completed during the 2026-27 financial year.
Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in the latest Budget for the next fiscal year, introduced a scheme providing a six-month window for a small category of taxpayers to disclose foreign assets or incomes below a certain size to avoid prosecution and penalty.
"The scheme for this will be prepared, and we will plan it in a manner that within the next financial year (2026-27) this entire exercise, from declaration to payment of tax and finalisation of assessment, is completed," Agrawal said.
He said there was a "substantial" number of taxpayers who could avail this one-time amnesty window, and their individual amount in default was not "very significant".
The scheme is aimed at taxpayers like students, young professionals, tech employees, relocated NRIs, etc.
Asked about the rationale behind bringing this special declaration window, Agrawal said the tax department gets about 35-40 lakh pieces of information from different countries through the automatic exchange of information (AEOI) regime.
"A good number of cases involve some professionals or students or some entities of such nature who were pursuing their career or studies abroad," he said.
Once such people become residents (in India), some balances could be lying in their accounts abroad or maybe some assets which were a genuine mistake because of the lack of understanding..., the CBDT chief said.
"There are substantial numbers, and therefore we felt that it is appropriate that we have to give them a window because then if that declaration is not there, then they get stuck (under the anti-black money Act of 2015).
"So, it was thought to provide relief to such taxpayers and such a category of people where the default is not very significant," he said.
As per the scheme explained in the Budget, taxpayers having undisclosed overseas income/assets up to Rs 1 crore will be required to pay 30 per cent of the undisclosed income or fair market value of the asset, and a 30 per cent additional tax in lieu of penalty to escape prosecution.
For taxpayers who have disclosed their income but did not declare their assets up to Rs 5 crore will have immunity from penalty and prosecution after payment of a fee of Rs 1 lakh. Under existing legislation dealing with foreign black money, such violations attract a penalty of Rs 10 lakh and prosecution.
