• I-T may try to pry open secret accounts abroad
• Center cracks whip on illegal land acquisition by foreigners
• New licensees default on telecom roll-out targets
• According to sources, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is considering a proposal to allow income-tax department to ask for information on accounts held by taxpayers in banks abroad by adding a column in the income-tax return forms to seek this information. The proposal comes in the wake of reports in foreign media of deposits held by Indians in Swiss banks and other tax havens, which are higher than the total value of the deposits held by the citizens of other countries. (ET)
• Govt has asked the state governments to keep an eye on transactions involving foreign nationals buying immovable properties illegally in India as it has come to its notice that foreign nationals are buying immovable property illegally in some parts of the country, particularly in Goa, which has raised concerns. Govt has asked all concerned state authorities to verify relevant travel documents and the nature of visa before registering any sale or purchase of property and to review, wherever appropriate, registration of sale or purchase already made to determine their compliance with legal requirements. (ET)
• DoT is learnt to be in the process of serving notices on five defaulters—Swan Telecom, Unitech Wireless, Datacom, Loop Telecom and S Tel, who have reneged on their rollout obligations i.e., rolling out at least 10% of the committed services in various district headquarters in the first year. Many of them are yet to place equipment orders with vendors though they were granted licences on January 27, 2007.
