India gets third set of Swiss bank details under auto info exchange
NEW DELHI/BERNE: India has received the third set of Swiss bank account details of with Switzerland as part of an annual exercise under which the European nation has shared particulars of nearly 33 lakh financial accounts with 96 countries.
The Federal Tax Administration (FTA) of Switzerland said in a statement on Monday that the exchange of information this year involved 10 more countries—Antigua and Barbuda, Azerbaijan, Dominica, Ghana, Lebanon, Macau, Pakistan, Qatar, Samoa and Vauatu.
While the exchange was reciprocal with 70 countries, Switzerland received information but did not provide any in the case of 26 countries—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).
While the FTA did not disclose names and further details of all 96 countries, officials said India figured among those having received the information for the third year in a row and the details shared with Indian authorities pertained to a large number of individuals and companies having accounts in Swiss financial institutions.
The exchange took place last month and the next set of information would be shared by Switzerland in September 2022.
India had received the first set of details from Switzerland under AEOI in September 2019. It was among 75 countries to get such information that year. Last year, India was among 86 such partner countries.
According to experts, the AEOI data received by India has been quite useful for establishing a strong prosecution case against those who have any unaccounted wealth, as it provides entire details of deposits and transfers as well as of all earnings, including through investments in securities and other assets.
On the condition of anonymity, officials said the details relate mostly to businessmen, including non-resident Indians now settled in several South-East Asian countries as well as in the US, the UK and even some African and South American countries.
Switzerland had agreed to AEOI with India after a long process, including a review of the necessary legal framework in India on data protection and confidentiality.
The exchanged details include identification, account and financial information, including name, address, country of residence and tax identification number, as well information concerning the reporting financial institution, account balance and capital income.
For three years now, India has been among prominent countries with which Switzerland has shared these details.
Besides, Swiss authorities have already shared information about more than 100 Indian citizens and entities so far this year on receipt of requests for administrative assistance in cases involving probes into financial wrongdoings including tax evasion, the officials added. This count has been similar in the past few years.
These cases mostly relate to older accounts that might have been closed before 2018, for which Switzerland has shared details with India under an earlier framework of mutual administrative assistance.
THE EXCHANGE TOOK PLACE LAST MONTH AND THE NEXT SET OF INFORMATION WOULD BE SHARED BY SWITZERLAND IN SEPTEMBER 2022