Income Tax Dept to nudge 25,000 ‘high-risk’ taxpayers to disclose foreign assets, campaign to widen in mid-Dec

First phase of 'NUDGE' campaign had resulted in disclosure of over Rs 30,000 crore of foreign income, assets

Big corporates whose employees have foreign assets and have not disclosed their foreign assets or incomes are also being onboarded to sensitise taxpayers, the official said, adding that industry bodies, ICAI, and associations have also been requested to create awareness. (Credit: Pixabay)

High-risk taxpayers with substantial foreign assets and incomes who have not disclosed their details correctly in the tax returns for assessment year 2025-26 will be “nudged” by the Income Tax Department, with SMS/e-mails to be sent to around 25,000 individuals beginning Friday, officials said. This initial round under the “Non-intrusive Usage of Data to Guide and Enable (NUDGE)” campaign of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, will ask such taxpayers to review and revise their returns by December 31 to avoid penal consequences, after which it will be expanded to more such taxpayers in the next phase starting mid-December, they said.

After the nudge, the non-compliant cases may be taken up for further scrutiny and verification, an official said. Big corporates whose employees have foreign assets and have not disclosed their foreign assets or incomes are also being onboarded to sensitise taxpayers, the official said, adding that industry bodies, ICAI, and associations have also been requested to create awareness.

“The campaign aims to facilitate correct reporting in Schedule Foreign Assets and Foreign Source Income in ITRs. Accurate and complete disclosure of foreign assets and income is a statutory requirement under the Income-tax Act, 1961, and the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015,” a separately issued statement by the CBDT said.

The CBDT had launched the first NUDGE campaign in November last year, targeting taxpayers who had been reported by foreign jurisdictions under the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) framework as holding foreign assets but not disclosed the same in their income tax returns (ITRs) for AY 2024-25. The Income Tax Department said it had resulted in 24,678 taxpayers (including several not directly nudged) revisiting their returns and disclosing foreign assets worth Rs 29,208 crore, along with foreign-source income of Rs 1,089.88 crore.

Till June 2025, the Income Tax Department had assessed about 1,080 such cases, raising the demand of Rs 40,000 crore, officials said. The Department has already conducted searches in Delhi, Mumbai and Pune, based on data received under Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and spontaneous exchange of information on investments in Dubai, unearthing undisclosed foreign assets and income worth several hundreds of crores, they added.

The details about foreign assets and income are shared between the countries in line with international reporting frameworks such as the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) aimed to tackle tax evasion by increasing transparency and cooperation among tax authorities globally. Under CRS and FATCA, India receives detailed information about financial accounts held by its residents in foreign jurisdictions, which includes account holder’s name, address, and tax identification number (TIN), account number and balance, income details such as interest, dividends, and other financial proceeds.

Aanchal Magazine

Aanchal Magazine is Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express and reports on the macro economy and fiscal policy, with a special focus on economic science, labour trends, taxation and revenue metrics. With over 13 years of newsroom experience, she has also reported in detail on macroeconomic data such as trends and policy actions related to inflation, GDP growth and fiscal arithmetic. Interested in the history of her homeland, Kashmir, she likes to read about its culture and tradition in her spare time, along with trying to map the journeys of displacement from there. ... Read More