Missed Foreign Disclosures? Voluntary Disclosure Open in 2026
In 2024 and 2025, the Income tax Department had initiated a widespread campaign commonly known as the NUDGE initiative targeting taxpayers with unreported foreign assets encouraging voluntary disclosures before the last date of filing belated / revised income tax returns. This was a targeted exercise carried based on data received under the Automatic Exchange of Information framework. This move indicated the government’s increasing focus on foreign assets of resident Indians and ensuring that every taxpayer reports them and offers the same to tax in India.
Foreign Income and Asset disclosure in Schedule FA and Schedule FSI of the Income tax Return is of utmost importance given the fact that the The Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income And Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 (BMA) imposes large quantum of penalties for non-disclosure which is up to 3 times the tax on undisclosed income or asset and where no return is filed, the penalty amounts to INR 10 lakhs.
