NEW DELHI: The government is expected to provide a compliance window of six months before the new law on overseas black money kicks in. At the same time, it is ready with the proposed bill on benami property to crack down on those who have undisclosed property registered in someone else's name.

Sources said the compliance period would be notified once the bill moved by finance minister Arun Jaitley is ratified by Parliament. The government is hoping that the bill is cleared during the current session of Parliament itself as it will give it time to implement the compliance window properly. The new law is to come into force from next April.

On March 1, TOI was the first to report about the compliance scheme.

"We will need around six months, which is a reasonable period. Keeping it too long also does not make sense," said a source, who did not wish to be identified. Earlier, there were suggestions that the government will give individuals around three months. Under the one-time compliance scheme, individuals will have the option to pay 30% penalty of the value of undisclosed assets and avoid prosecution.

Those who do not use the window face stringent provisions under the proposed law, including 90% penalty on those who have undisclosed foreign assets and income overseas in addition to imprisonment up to 10 years.

The government has, however, suggested that those with minor balances in foreign accounts, which may have been missed due to oversight, be exempted from the penalty or prosecution provisions. As a result, it has fixed Rs 5 lakh as the threshold.

Asked about the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Bill, which was also announced in the budget, sources said the finance ministry is ready with the bill and it may be introduced in the current session of Parliament.