I am amazed by the free flow of suggestions given by so called experts to convert the old currency notes to new ones and make your black money to white after the demonetisation of Rs 500 and 1000 notes by the present government.
It is wisely said, ‘A little knowledge is a dangerous thing’. Everyone have become an expert in giving advice to convert black to white overnight. I only hope that people don’t follow their advice and put themselves to greater danger.
If you have only a few lakhs of black money in old currency notes, it is possible to convert that to new notes without much problem. However, if you have several crores of black money, it is extremely risky to do it.
The government has brought the demonetisation scheme not for petty black money hoarders but to catch the big fishes who are running a parallel economy in the country and corrupting the system using such black money.
It is not easy to convert your old notes to new and your black money to white.
If you are having black money in your locker or in your home, it is only an income tax violation and a civil offence in India. You can’t be send to prison for income tax violations. However, in your attempt to convert your black to white, you may commit some offences whose consequences may be much more severe.
Let me discuss the various modus-operandi floating around to convert your old notes to new and your black money to white.
1: Buy Gold
This is most popular method suggested by the so called experts. You take all your old notes of 500/1000 to a jeweller and buy gold biscuit/bricks from them. The black money rate of gold is almost double at Rs 50,000 per ten gram against the market value of around Rs 30,000. It means that you have already lost half of the value in such transaction. Moreover, your act can be captured in the CCTV camera of jeweller that can lead to IT/Customs raid in your house during which other illegal transactions can also come under scanner.
You are perhaps not aware that gold is a notified item under Sections 123 of Customs Act. It means that if any imported/pure gold is seized from your custody, it is deemed to be smuggled unless you are able to produce documentary evidence for the legal import or procurement of the same. You may thus suffer imprisonment for smuggling gold in addition to seizure of gold and punishment under income tax act.
2: Donate in Temples
It is suggested that you first donate your money to temple in old currency notes who can then covert that to new currency notes and return to you. You forget that the temples do not have any magical power to convert old notes to new. When they would go to banks for conversation, all their new notes would be accounted for. Thereafter, they can’t return back to you any of them without committing fraud under IPC. Punishment here is again jail for connivance.
3: Political Donations
One great idea mooted is that you give black money to political parties who can freely accept donations unto Rs. 20,000 per person in cash. They can convert this old currency notes to new and give back your money. You forget that once the party converts the old notes to new, it is all accounted for. Thereafter, they can’t give it to their own party members without inviting troubles from several quarters.
4: Deposits in the Jan Dhan Account
It looks so easy that you ask the poor people to deposit your black money in their account and then give you back the new notes after taking their little commission. You are taking a great risk by following this modus operandi. If that poor man refuses to pay you the money back, you can’t do anything against him.
It would take just a small software to identify such accounts where such money was deposited after 8th November and withdrawn thereafter. If tax authorities bring a few such people to their office based on this evidence, these poor people would spill the beans in no time.
If the money belong to a businessman, he can be proceeded under Income Tax laws. However, if it belong to a government official or a politician, he can also be proceeded under Prevention of Corruption Act.
5: Giving Back-dated Loan
This modus operandi is similar to deposit in the bank account of poor with additional risk on your part. You have created an additional evidence against yourself by signing the contract/loan-agreement. You can never back-out thereafter. It is also important to know that government officers have to give written information to government when they give loans or take loans beyond a specified amount.
6: Paying Advance Salaries
Do you think that you can pay advance salaries to your employees for few months and no one would know? You can never be tough with your employees as their one complain is enough to put you in trouble for transacting with an illegal currency after November 8.
7: Booking and Cancelling Train Tickets
This modus operandi suits only the petty businessmen and officers. Imagine the evidence created by yourself by filling up the form, standing in the queue under CCTV surveillance for only few thousand of conversion. How much do you think you can convert by this method? In any case, government has already banned such cancellation.
Conclusion
Government is well aware of the ramification of its move. They also know how people are converting their black to white. They may act at the appropriate time when they have gathered sufficient evidences and made more stringent laws to curb the black money.
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