The Indian Income Tax Department is urging some taxpayers who have bought residential or commercial property in the UAE to disclose related foreign assets under the Foreign Assets of Small Taxpayers—Disclosure Scheme, 2026 (FAST-DS), ahead of a 31 December 2026 deadline. The scheme is described as a one-time, fully online, trust-based and self-declaratory window to regularise previously undisclosed overseas assets.
Finance Ministry sources say eligible disclosures involve paying 30% tax on the fair market value of the assets and an equal amount as penalty. A valid declaration is also reported to provide immunity from further assessment, penalty and prosecution under India’s Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) Act, 2015, and the scheme includes a separate Rs 1 lakh fee mechanism referenced in reporting.
Outlets differ mainly in how much detail they include: some focus on the overall deadline and tax/penalty relief, while others highlight the number of applications filed so far and the use of an e-filing portal that can show information received from foreign jurisdictions under automatic exchange frameworks for specific years.
