India has introduced a time-bound tax amnesty mechanism aimed particularly at smaller taxpayers, including students and non-resident Indians, who may have failed to properly disclose certain foreign income or foreign assets. The scheme remains available until December 31, 2026, providing eligible taxpayers an opportunity to regularize specified historical non-disclosures.
Under the reported framework, taxpayers having undisclosed foreign income of up to INR 10 million may declare it by paying tax at 30% together with an equivalent amount as penalty. A separate relaxation applies where foreign assets of up to INR 50 million were acquired from income that had already been taxed but the assets themselves were not properly reported. Such taxpayers may regularize the reporting default through a prescribed payment of INR 100,000.
The initiative highlights an increasingly important aspect of modern taxation: foreign income and assets are becoming much more visible to tax authorities as international information-sharing and digital compliance systems develop. For taxpayers with cross-border investments, bank accounts or other overseas assets, accurate disclosure is therefore becoming just as important as payment of the underlying tax itself.