Business Standard

India gets data on Swiss bank a/c holders

- PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

India has got first tranche of swiss bank account details of its nationals under a new Automatic Exchange of Informatio­n (AEOI) , a major milestone in the government's fight against black money stashed abroad.

India is among 75 countries with which Switzerlan­d's Federal Tax Administra­tion (FTA) has exchanged informatio­n on financial accounts within the framework of global standards on AEOI, an FTA spokespers­on told PTI.

The next exchange would take place in September 2020, the spokespers­on added.

This is the first time that India has received details from Swiss authoritie­s under the AEOI framework, which provides for exchange of informatio­n on financial accounts, currently active as well as those accounts that were closed during 2018, the year in which the framework agreement became effective. However, the informatio­n exchange is governed by strict confidenti­ality clauses, and the FTA officials refused to disclose specific details on the number of accounts or about the quantum of financial assets associated with the Indian clients of Swiss banks.

However, the AEOI only relates to accounts that are officially in the name of Indians and they might include those used for business and other genuine purposes.

Overall, the FTA has sent informatio­n on around 3.1 million financial accounts to the partner states and received informatio­n on around 2.4 million from them.

The exchanged details include identifica­tion, account and financial informatio­n. These include name, address, state of residence and tax identifica­tion number, as well informatio­n concerning the financial institutio­n, account balance and capital income.

Separately, the Swiss government said in a statement that the number of countries with which the AEOI has taken place this year is 75, out of which there was reciprocit­y with 63 countries.

In the case of 12 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 (Belize, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Curaçao, Montserrat, Romania, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Cyprus) or because they chose not to receive data (Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands).

The data was collected by the FTA from around 7,500 institutio­ns including banks, trusts and insurers.

“The largest exchange was with Germany, as was the case in the previous year. The FTA cannot provide any informatio­n on the amount of financial assets," the statement added.

Asked about specific details relating to India, the FTA spokespers­on said, "the communicat­ion of statistica­l data is subject to the confidenti­ality clauses as well." To another query on the next exchange of informatio­n with India, the spokespers­on said," according to the internatio­nal agreement in place, the exchanges have to take place within nine months after the end of the respective calendar year. This means the exchange takes place in September, except for correction­s." The Swiss government said Switzerlan­d has committed itself to adopting the global standard for the internatio­nal automatic exchange of informatio­n in tax matters.

 ??  ?? The informatio­n exchange is governed by strict confidenti­ality clauses, and Switzerlan­d’s Federal Tax Administra­tion officials refused to disclose specific details on the number of accounts or about the quantum of financial assets
The informatio­n exchange is governed by strict confidenti­ality clauses, and Switzerlan­d’s Federal Tax Administra­tion officials refused to disclose specific details on the number of accounts or about the quantum of financial assets

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