Money in Swiss banks: India at 77th place, accounts for just 0.06% of all foreign funds
1. India was ranked 74th in the previous year. 2. The top-10 countries also include Germany, Luxembourg, Bahamas, Singapore and Cayman Islands.
Swiss Authorities have provided the fourth set of information on financial accounts to India under the Automattic Exchange Of Information (AEOI) agreement.
It is worth noting that the two countries entered into an agreement in 2018, in order to improve tax discipline and avert potential evasion. The first such exchange with India took place in 2019.
Under the agreement, both governments annually exchange information that allows them to verify whether taxpayers have correctly declared their financial accounts abroad in their tax returns.
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Switzerland has committed to adopting the global standard for the automatic international exchange of information in tax matters.
On Monday, the Federal Tax Administration of Switzerland shared details of nearly 34 lakh financial accounts with 101 countries. This year, the annual sharing of information involved a total of 101 countries, and it was on a reciprocal basis.
Albania, Brunei Darussalam, Nigeria, Peru, and Turkey were added to the existing list of 96 countries.
According to ANI, India has been provided names, addresses, Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) and account numbers, and the account balance of each reportable person, giving an insight into the exact nature of the transmitted data.
The exercise by the Swiss authorities is strictly meant for “tax only” purposes. In India, the data is kept in the custody of and for action by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).
There have been various instances of a crackdown on secret bank accounts globally on possible evasion of taxes.
“With 74 countries, the exchange of information was reciprocal. In the case of 27 countries, Switzerland received information but did not provide any, either because those countries do not yet meet the international requirements on confidentiality and data security (14) or because they chose not to receive data (12),” the Federal Tax Administration said in a statement.
“Russia was one of the states this year to which no data was provided,” the statement added.
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