Treaty for sharing banking information with Switzerland likely in September

19 Aug 2011 Evaluate

The agreement with Switzerland for sharing banking information is expected to come into force by next month, the Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee said. The finance minister said that the Swiss Parliament had ratified the agreement but as per rules of direct democracy prevalent in that country all cantons (states) have to ratify it. The agreement with Switzerland for sharing banking information of Indians having accounts in Switzerland was signed by finance minister during his earlier tenure in UPA-I government.

“This process will be completed by September. Information will be shared from April 1, 2011, prospectively not retrospectively. No country has agreed to share information retrospectively,” Mukherjee said. By adding further he said, once it comes into force, banking information will be exchanged between the two countries on demand.

India has already done Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) with four sovereign entities such as Bahamas, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands and Isle of Man, which are already in force. India has also done TIEA with Cayman Islands but the agreement is yet to come into force. These are famous tax havens where black money of individuals from many countries has been parked.
 
India has done Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with 80 nations, which is already into force whereas DTAA with Columbia, Ethiopia, Lithuania, Taiwan and Tanzania are signed but is yet to come into force. On the other hand, India has started re-negotiations DTAA with other countries such as Italy, Norway, Singapore and Switzerland.

“In the last two years, India has negotiated 16 TIEAs, 18 new DTAAs and has also renegotiated 21 existing DTAAs. TIEA with Bahamas has been signed and has also entered into force. TIEA with Monaco has been negotiated. DTAAs with Republic of Columbia and Taiwan have been signed and are waiting to be entered into force,” finance minister said.

Mukherjee said “DTAAs and TIEAs help in countering the menace of tax evasion and black money stashed in foreign banks by helping in collection of information regarding tax evasion and foreign bank accounts. DTAAs also sometimes help in collection of taxes from assets located abroad. 27 out of 80 DTAAs contain such a provision for assistance in collection of taxes”.

TIEA is a concept creased to deal with tax havens where banks are established and do not share information and act as ‘sovereign entities’. The finance minister informed Parliament that after 2008, and during the London and Pittsburgh summits, all countries including Switzerland, which were not cooperating earlier in sharing banking information, were asked to co-operate. Every country had its own detailed and elaborate procedure of entering into and ratifying international agreements, Mukherjee added.

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