NRIs don’t have to give details of bank accounts while filing their income tax

The NRIs will not have to give details of their bank accounts held outside the country while filing their income tax returns if they are not seeking refunds, the Central Board of Direct Taxes said.

“It is not mandatory. It is optional. It is for cases where the refund is sought,” CBDT Chairman Sushil Chandra told in an event to celebrate the 157th Income Tax day here.

The department’s top boss said this when asked to clarify if it was mandatory for NRIs to provide the details of their foreign bank accounts in certain return forms like the ITR-2.

That column in the income tax returns (ITRs), Chandra said, is to be filed in “only one condition, that is, if they (NRIs) are seeking a refund.”

The CBDT (policy-making body for the I-T Department) had brought out new ITRs on 31 March this year and a newly introduced column in the ITR-2 seeks “details of foreign bank accounts held (including any beneficial interest) at any time during the previous year” from the assessee or the file.