“Emerging jurisprudence” as regard the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015

Ruchesh Sinha, Anmol Batra & Alok Sinha – [2021] 132 taxmann.com 184 (Article)

Since the notification of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 (‘BM Act’ in short), w.e.f 1st July, 2015, slowly and gradually the legal wheels are moving and the matters have now started coming to the first and second appellate forum i.e. the CIT (A) and the ITAT. It may be stated that the legislatures enact statutes, which stand on their own and speak for themselves.

Interpreting statutes begins and ends with the text of the statutes. When courts render decisions on the meaning of statutes, the prevailing view is that a court task is not to make the law, but rather to interpret the law.

In the case of BM Act, unlike the parent legislation i.e. the Income-tax Act, 1961 which have to its share hundreds of judgements on various forums like of ITAT, High Court and Supreme Court, the BM Act is a recent legislation and hence the law in this regard is still developing and evolving. Hence, it is imperative to analyse any decision which has been given in this context. Before coming to the analysis and discussions of this aspect, it is relevant to briefly touch upon the relevant analysis of the BM Act.

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