NEW DELHI: India has obtained the fifth set of Swiss bank account details as part of the annual automatic information exchange framework between India and Switzerland. Swiss authorities have shared information on approximately 3.6 million financial accounts with 104 countries, including India.
In a statement issued on Monday, the Federal Tax Administration (FTA) of Switzerland said that it has sent information on around 3.6 million financial accounts to the partner states and received information on around 2.9 financial accounts from them.
India and Switzerland entered into an automatic tax-related information sharing agreement from 1 January 2018. The first set of information was received by India in September 2019. However, Swiss authorities refrained from disclosing the specific amount involved in the shared information. Though they confirmed that the new details provided to Indian authorities involve “hundreds of financial accounts.” These accounts comprise multiple instances associated with individuals, corporations, and trusts.
“The FTA cannot provide any information on the amount of financial assets. Switzerland has committed itself to adopting the global standard for the international automatic exchange of information in tax matters. The legal basis for the implementation of the AEOI in Switzerland came into force on 1 January 2017,” FTA said in a statement.
The shared details include crucial information such as identification particulars, account details, and financial information. This encompasses the account holder’s name, address, country of residence, tax identification number, as well as information pertaining to the reporting financial institution, account balance, and capital income.
The exchange took place last month, and Switzerland will share the next set of information in September 2024. Switzerland has always been known to be a safe destination for stashing black money. It has been speculated in the past that huge sums of ‘undisclosed’ money has been parked in Swiss banks by Indians.
Though the information exchange agreement allows the two countries to share details of financial transactions carried out by citizens of either countries on their shores, one cannot force another to share details in violation of the law of the land. India has entered into such agreements with 21 such countries.
Automatic tax-related info sharing agreement
India and Switzerland entered into an automatic tax-related information sharing agreement from January 1, 2018. The first set of information was received by India in September 2019. However, Swiss authorities refrained from disclosing the specific amount involved in the shared information.