New Delhi, Aug. 16 -- Eligible small taxpayers, including young professionals and tech employees, can avail of a one-time amnesty to disclose undisclosed foreign assets and regularise their foreign income by December 31, according to a finance ministry notification. Under the scheme, taxpayers will have to pay 30% of the market value of their assets as tax and an additional 30% in lieu of penalty. The notification gives effect to the budget announcement made by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1. Presenting the budget, Sitharaman had proposed a foreign asset disclosure scheme for small taxpayers to help them "disclose income or assets" below a certain size. The scheme will cover two categories of taxpayers: those who did not disclose their overseas income or assets, and those who disclosed their overseas income and paid the due tax but could not declare the asset acquired. For the first category, the limit of undisclosed income or assets is Rs.1 crore, according to the notification. Taxpayers will have to pay 30% of the fair market value of the asset as tax and another 30% as additional income tax in lieu of penalty to get immunity from prosecution. The fair market value of the assets will be determined as of March 31, 2026, according to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). For the second category, the value of the asset is capped at Rs.5 crore. Taxpayers in this category can get immunity from both penalty and prosecution by paying a fee of Rs.1 lakh. According to frequently asked questions (FAQs) issued by the CBDT on Saturday on the Foreign Assets of Small Taxpayers - Disclosure Scheme (FAST-DS), "the scheme comes into force on 16th August, 2026." A person who is currently a non-resident can also make a declaration under the scheme if they were a resident of India either in the year to which the undisclosed income relates or in the year in which the undisclosed asset was acquired. The scheme also allows declarations from taxpayers who failed to file a return or failed to disclose the asset or income in a return filed before the scheme came into force....