Senior Corporate Executives Get Income Tax Notices For Non-disclosure Of Assets Under ‘Nudge Campaign’

The Income Tax Department is sending notices to senior executives of large corporate companies in relation to non-disclosure of income from various sources, including foreign assets, investments in crypto and employee stock options (ESOPs).

All this is being done to lower taxable income.

The executives getting these notices generally earn more than Rs 50 lakh and hold positions such as managing director and chief executives of multinational companies, according to a report by The Economic Times.

The report says that the notices are being issued for alleged underreporting of income and claiming unwarranted exemptions.

The mismatches between the disclosures and actual earnings of these taxpayers were found after intensified reviews of income tax returns (ITRs) of high-income individuals during the current assessment cycle.

The tax authority has asked these individuals to file revised returns. The notices sent are part of its ‘Non-intrusive Usage of Data to Guide and Enable (NUDGE) campaign’.

These executives are working across sectors including hospitality, information technology, fast-moving consumer goods, engineering and construction, and automobiles.

According to the media report, several startup leaders have also come under the scanner of the Income Tax Department.

The direct tax authority suspects that these professionals are not declaring their foreign assets and overseas income. Moreover, they may be underreporting their stock-linked incentives and inflating various allowances such as housing and travel.

“Many taxpayers felt that they could get away with foreign purchases and assets. However, with the large volume of financial data received by the government through automated exchange programmes and PAN (Permanent Account Number)-linked tracking, it is increasingly difficult to underreport foreign transactions,” one of the tax officials cited in the media report said.

There have been cases where taxpayers purchased property in the name of their spouse or minor children. In some cases, taxpayers have claimed exemptions on the basis of fraudulent donations to religious organisations, charitable trusts or educational institutions.

Over Rs 99,000 crore has been disclosed by Indian nationals in foreign assets. It is reported that more than 15 lakh taxpayers revised their return filings for the assessment year 2025–26.