The government of India has received the third set of Swiss bank account information or the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) data from Switzerland.
As part of an annual exercise, this was done. Under this annual exercise, the European nation shared details of around 33 lakh financial accounts with 96 countries.
Officials disclosed that the third set of Swiss bank details contain mostly the information of Businessmen, including non-resident Indians (NRI’s) now settled in several South-East Asian countries, the US, the UK and even some African and South American countries.
The Indian authorities were provided with information about many persons and companies with accounts in Swiss financial institutions. Besides, the details also contain information about contributions to non-profit organisations and other such foundations.
Experts said that AEOI data received by India has been quite helpful in setting up a strong prosecution case against those individuals who have unaccounted wealth because it provides all details of deposits, transfers, earnings through investments in securities and other assets.
The exchanged information includes identification, account and financial information such as name, address, country of residence and tax identification number, and information concerning the reporting financial institution, account balance and capital income.
Tax officials use the exchanged information to verify if taxpayers have correctly reported their financial accounts on their tax returns.
As details on investments in digital currencies remain out of bounds from the AEOI framework, for the first time in 2021, Switzerland has agreed to share information about foreigners’ real estate holdings there.
This is considered a major milestone in the GOI’s fight against black money allegedly stashed in foreign countries, as officials will now be able to investigate tax liabilities and earnings related to apartments, condos, etc., owned by Indians in Switzerland.
Swiss Federal Tax Administration (FTA) on October 11 reported that 10 more countries, including Antigua and Barbuda, Azerbaijan, Dominica, Ghana, Lebanon, Macau, Pakistan, and Qatar, were involved in the exchange of information this year. The exchange took place in September, and the next set of information would be shared in September 2022.
Switzerland thus is seeking to reposition itself as a major global financial centre while attempting to change the long-standing perception that the Swiss banking system is a safe place for large amounts of black money.
