Nearly 200 cr found in Swiss account of 80-yr-old woman who claims less than 2 lakh as Annual Income

An 80-year-old elderly woman, who claims a monthly income of around Rs 14,000, is reported to have black money amounting to the tune of around Rs 196 crore in her Swiss bank account, HT’s Hindi language publication Live Hindustan reported citing a news report. The Mumbai branch of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), has ordered the woman to pay a penalty along with the tax.

Renu Tharani is reported to have an account in HSBC Geneva. The Swiss Bank holds the sole discretionary beneficiary of the bank named Tharani Family Trust. It was opened in July 2004 under the name of Cayman Islands-based GW Investment which transferred the fund to the family trust as an administrator.

Tharani did not give this information in the IT return that was filed in 2005-06. The case was reopened on 31 October 2014. Tharani also served an affidavit stating that she does not have a bank account in HSBC Geneva nor was she a director or a shareholder in GW Investment Bank. She even described herself as a non-resident and claimed that even if there is any amount, she cannot be taxed for that.

It was in the IT returns for 2005-06 when Tharani stated her annual income as just Rs 1.7 lakh. She gave an address in Bengaluru and described herself as an Indian taxpayer. The ITAT Bench said that it may have been that she was in her first year of non-residential status. The bench could not figure out where did she accumulate 200 crore rupees in her bank account in such short period. The bench also said that she isn’t even a public figure or runs a charity that this amount would have been given to her trust.

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