In a significant ruling related to disclosure of foreign income, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Chennai, cancelled a penalty of Rs 10 lakh imposed on a salaried taxpayer who had failed to declare ESOPs, his foreign company shares, in his income tax return. What’s the Case The employee had been posted abroad by his Indian employer and was granted ESOPs — or shares — of the foreign parent company as part of his job. The assessee filed his return of income for AY 2016–17 on 22.02.2018, wherein he failed to disclose the said foreign assets in Schedule FA. Schedule FA is the section of the income tax return where details of foreign assets and income must be filled in. This omission triggered a penalty. Accordingly, penalty proceedings under Section 43 of the BMA for non-disclosure of foreign assets in Schedule FA were initiated, and a penalty of Rs 10 lakh was levied.