this story originally appeared in on jul 25 2016mumbai amid new delhis highpitched hunt for hidden assets of the rich and famous actor shah rukh khan has received a notice from the incometax department about a fortnight ago the tax office asked khan to spell out details of his investments in offshore destinationsthe tax office sought details of khans investments in destinations such as bermuda british virgin islands bvi and dubai while tax authorities are sitting on a mountain of information on offshore investments by a large number of indians it is unclear whether the department has any prima facie evidence to believe that khans overseas assets reflect his undisclosed wealththe notice was sent under section 131 of the incometax act which empowers tax authorities to conduct enquiries a person aware of the development told et the department it appears is going beyond the actors disclosed ownership of shares of companies in tax havens to fish out information such as activities of these outfits the decisionmakers directors etc ets email to karuna badwal khans business manager and coproducer at red chillies entertainment went unanswered till the time of going to pressaccording to industry sources besides khan a few industrialists who have structured investments through singapore have received similar notices it happens at a time the government driven by its promise to unearth black money is going after many wealthy indians who did not declare overseas bank accounts and assets such as properties and stocks in the quasiamnesty scheme last year the notices to celebrities like khan may be aimed at reminding the rich that they should come clean under the ongoing income declaration scheme ids which is being aggressively marketed by the finance ministry as an opportunity to declare undisclosed local assetsefforts to make ids a successthe government is making all efforts to make ids a success notices are being issued to assessees to send the message that the government is serious and those who once again refuse to declare concealed income would face the music said senior chartered accountant dilip lakhaniaccording to mitil chokshi senior managing partner at audit firm chokshi chokshi llp theres no doubt that those assessees who have been issued notices or subjected to investigation cannot opt for ids but such actions like prosecution initiated against many assessees charges slapped on many professionals for aiding and abetting and information obtained from other jurisdictions would make assessees think twice before evading tax it would surely go to make many new assessees neither lakhani nor chokshi is an adviser to khanmany businessmen topnotch professionals and actors have used the liberalised remittance scheme of the reserve bank of india to buy apartments and stocks abroad many in order to escape estate duty bought into shell companies in jersey to invest in londons property market the scheme allows investment in almost all markets barring countries such as mauritius iran and afghanistan some businessmen have used their companies in india to invest abroad as rules allow