As a part of its crackdown on blackmoney menace, India has entered into an agreement with Switzerland for liberal interpretation of identity requirements for gathering information about illicit funds stashed away by its citizens in Swiss banks. “Government has also signed a mutual agreement with Government of Swiss Confederation for liberal interpretation of the identity requirements for providing information under Article 26 of the DTAA to facilitate effective exchange of information,” Minister of State for Finance JD Seelam on Tuesday said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha. The mechanism for exchange of information in specific cases with Switzerland is through the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA), he said. Amended DTAA with Switzerland has already entered into force on November 7, 2011, he said. Giving an update on alleged tax evasion through offshore accounts, Finance Minister P Chidambaram yesterday said that the Government has succeeded through alternative methods and special efforts in obtaining information in 67 cases “despite several hurdles in obtaining from the countries concerned”. The Government is deploying “special efforts and alternative measures” to get information on cases of alleged tax evasion through zero or low-tax jurisdictions abroad, he had said. The Finance Minister had said that action is underway to determine the tax liability as well as imposition of penalty in these 67 cases. “Prosecutions for wilful tax evasion have been launched in 17 other cases. More enquiries have been initiated into accounts reportedly held by Indian entities in no tax or low tax jurisdictions,” he had said. “There has been much debate on illegal offshore-accounts held by Indians. Investigations into such accounts were launched in 2011,” Chidambaram had said.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 06:41:54 +0000
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