Black Money: India, Switzerland to Exchange Bank Details Soon, Names of Swiss Bank Account Holders to Be Revealed
Under the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) agreement, India and Switzerland will exchange bank details with each other soon.
New Delhi, July 10: Under the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) agreement, India and Switzerland will exchange bank details with each other before the September 30 deadline, a reported said on Wednesday. From India's perspective, bank information received from Switzerland assumes significance as it might reveal the names of Indian citizens who are hiding black money in Swiss banks.
Switzerland will share details of all Indians with bank accounts in Switzerland as of 2018 beginning under the AEOI. The agreement between India and Switzerland came into force in January 2018. India is among 73 countries with whom information on bank accounts will be shared this year. The Swiss Finance office described the upcoming exchange as an "important milestone in the relationship between India and Switzerland". Parliamentary Panel Says Difficult to Provide Estimate of Black Money.
According to Swiss authorities, legislative and Parliamentary procedures that need to be carried out prior to the exchange of banking information have concluded, The Indian Express reported. Under AEOI, India and Switzerland will share banking information with each other each year. Government Declines to Share Black Money Details Received From Switzerland Citing Confidentiality.
"In Switzerland, every activation of the AEOI with a new partner state needs the approval of the Swiss Parliament. This requires the implementation of the legal authorization procedures (public consultation on the proposal; governmental dispatch for the attention of the Parliament; debate on the bill in both chambers of Parliament). Concerning India, the procedure was started in November 2016 and successfully completed in December 2017 so that AEOI could enter into force on 1 January 2018," the Federal Tax Administration stated.
Reacting to the development, a senior Indian official of the Foreign Taxation & Tax Research (FT&TR) told the newspaper: "We have all the systems in place and are ready for the exchange. Following the delivery of the data, the Swiss account details will be compared with the tax returns of account holders and action taken wherever necessary."
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 10, 2019 08:35 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).