Way Cleared For Information on Swiss Bank Accounts
posted on Jun 18, 2011 @ 3:43PM
Now India can get information on secret Swiss Bank accounts easily. The Swiss Parliament today gave approval to amendments to tax treaties with countries, including India, making it easier for to access information about the illegal funds held by their nationals in Swiss private banks. The upper house of the Swiss Parliament endorsed amendments to double-taxation agreements in line with internationally applicable standards.
The beneficiaries from the new amendments include India, Germany, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, Greece, Turkey, Uruguay, Kazakhstan, and Poland. The Swiss Parliament approval comes at a time when the Indian government is facing intense pressure from the opposition, the Supreme Court and civil society to bring back black money stashed away in tax havens.
As per the revised taxation treaty with Switzerland, India can get information on secret bank accounts from Swiss authorities for cases dating from January 2011. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Swiss Federal Councilor Micheline Calmy-Rey signed a "protocol" to amend the double taxation agreement (DTA) in the area of Taxes on income on August 30, 2010. Meanwhile in Bangalore, Ambassador of Switzerland to India, Philippe Welti said that India could get banking details of its citizens in tax frauds and evasion cases once the Swiss Parliament ratifies the revised Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement between the two nations.