Amid reports that Indian funds in Swiss banks tripled to Rs 38,000 crore in 2024, the Centre said it is closely monitoring possible tax evasion, leveraging various information exchange mechanisms with Switzerland on foreign assets and income.
In a statement issued on Friday, the finance ministry said that India regularly receives information about such foreign accounts and assets from 100+ tax jurisdictions, including Switzerland.
It further said that Switzerland has been providing annual financial information about Indian residents since 2018 under the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) framework. The first data transmission to Indian authorities occurred in September 2019, and the exchange has continued regularly since then, covering even those accounts suspected of involvement in financial irregularities.
According to a Swiss National Bank report, money parked by Indians in Swiss banks more than tripled in 2024, reaching 3.54 billion Swiss francs, or Rs 37,600 crore.
Elaborating the mechanism to check tax evasion, the finance ministry has said that the tax department regularly undertakes a systematic review of data so received and identifies taxpayers, whose cases require further verification.
“Such verification is carried out through different modes, including search and survey actions, open enquiries, etc,” it said.
It said that for assessment year 2024-25, the tax department compared the data shared under AEOI with the information about foreign assets and income filed in the ITRs by the taxpayers, for the purpose of verification. The department sends SMS and emails to various taxpayers with a request to review their ITRs, where foreign assets and income were not reported in the appropriate Schedules of ITR.
According to the finance ministry, the initiative has resulted in substantial growth of taxpayers reporting foreign assets and income in ITR for AY 2024-25. A total of 2.31 lakh taxpayers have reported their foreign assets and income in AY 2024-25, witnessing growth of 45.17% over 1.59 lakh taxpayers in the previous year.