New delhi sources stated that in a move that is going to cause a lot of heartache to individuals, the government is all set to announce a new gold amnesty scheme wherein individuals will have to disclose their unaccounted gold holdings and pay taxes on the value that falls beyond a certain threshold. gold jewelry of married women worth a certain amount will be exempted from this scheme.
Furthermore a top source told this newspaper, “The government at the Centre is mulling a special scheme on gold which aims at legalizing unaccounted wealth in India’s most consumed asset yellow metal. We have learnt that the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), in consultation with the finance ministry, will finalize the scheme soon.” Meanwhile the rate of tax is yet to be worked out by the government, a source said, but hinted that the thinking is to keep the rate around 30 per cent level, with an effective rate of 33%, including education cess.
Sources said “The new scheme is being considered as yet another attempt to unearth lakhs of crores of black money still lying in the system in the form of unaccounted gold”. Moreover the proposed scheme, believed to have been prepared jointly by the department of economic affairs and the department of revenue under the finance ministry, will be implemented in this financial year itself.
