In its bid to bring back black money, India has made a fresh request to Switzerland seeking names of Indians who have unaccounted money, along with the list of Swiss banks in which the money is stashed.
last week, Switzerland said that it was readying a list of Indians suspected to have un-taxed money in Swiss banks. The names of certain Indian individuals and entities came under the scanner of the Swiss authorities during an ongoing exercise to identify the real beneficiary owners of funds held in various banks operating there.
The list of such people and entities is reportedly being shared by Switzerland to India. The suspected Indians and entities might have invested untaxed money in Swiss banks through institutions like trusts, domiciliary companies and other legal entities based out of countries other than India.
The Indian link of these entities was uncovered after enquiries by the banks and regulatory authorities found out the source of the funds and the beneficiary ownership of such accounts. The revelations came at a time when the official Swiss data suggests that Indian money in various banks there rose by 43 per cent during 2013 to nearly Rs 14,000 crore.
India’s tax treaty with Switzerland provides for “exchange of information in tax matters to the widest possible extent without allowing the contracting states to engage in fishing expeditions or to request information that is unlikely to be relevant to the tax affairs of a given taxpayer”.
Swiss Government has said that it would honour administrative assistance requests, if the requesting country identifies the taxpayer, “although this identification can ensue in a way other than by indicating the name and address”.
However, the Swiss authorities have been refusing to share details about the Indians named in this ‘HSBC list’, which was stolen by a bank employee and later found its way to tax authorities in various countries including India.
Despite repeated requests from India, Switzerland has denied information claiming its local laws prohibit administrative assistance in matters where information has been sourced illegally, including through stolen lists.