ME News Bureau: New Delhi: The Indian government has signed a pact with Switzerland that would mandate automatic sharing of tax-related information from January 1, 2018, according to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). This, according to the Center, is aimed at combating black money hoarded outside the country.
The Income Tax Department said the agreement was signed by Andreas Baum, Swiss Ambassador to India; and Sushil Chandra, CBDT chairman, at the North Block, New Delhi.
The CBDT stated, “"With the completion of the parliamentary procedure in Switzerland and signing of mutual agreement, India and Switzerland are set for automatic exchange of information for the period beginning from January 1, 2018."
Earlier in November, a mutual declaration for the implementation of Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) was signed between the two sides. As per this declaration, both countries would begin collecting data in harmony with the global standards in 2018 and exchange it from 2019 onwards.
While Switzerland has adhered to the global standards on automatic exchange of information with this declaration, India has undertaken to protect data confidentiality.
As per the Government’s statement made earlier, "It will now be possible for India on an automatic basis, to receive from September 2019 onwards, the financial information of accounts of Indian residents in Switzerland for 2018 and later years.”
Switzerland, which has always been at the focus of the debate on black money allegedly hoarded by Indians abroad, used to be known for very robust secrecy walls till a few years ago around its banking practices.
An enormous pressure from across the world has resulted in Switzerland yielding on the harsh secrecy clauses its laws provided to the banks.
A number of information requests on details about Indians who had accounts in Swiss banks were still pending, stated official sources.
