Tax Adventurism Will Prove Extremely Costly: Arun Jaitley

Jaitley was speaking at the annual session of industry body CII.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. (Photo: Reuters)

Amid reports of some Indians having unaccounted wealth in tax havens, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said those who did not take advantage of the compliance window last year to declare illegal assets abroad will find “such adventurism extremely costly”.

The minister addressing the annual session of industry body CII said global initiatives to deal with the menace of unaccounted wealth abroad will be in place by 2017, and then it would become extremely difficult for individuals to hide assets.

With G20 initiatives, FATCA and bilateral transactions in place with effect from 2017, the world is going to be a far more transparent institution and therefore, this kind of an adventurism will prove to be extremely costly for those who have indulged in it.

<b>Arun Jaitley, Union Finance Minister</b>

His statement comes on a day when a newspaper, based on leaked documents of Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca, reported that over 500 Indians, including some well-known names, figure in the list of persons having an association with firms in tax havens.

Also read: The What’s What and Who’s Who of the Panama Papers Leak