India, Switzerland sign joint declaration for sharing black money information

The Dollar Business Bureau 

India and Switzerland inked the ‘Joint Declaration’ for implementation of Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) on November 22. This joint declaration which came after four years of negotiations is intended to introduce automatic exchange of financial account information between the countries on a reciprocal basis from 2018.

India first ratified Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (MAC) in June 2012 and then also signed the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (MCAA) on June 3, 2015.

“The Joint Declaration is subject to MAC being in force in each jurisdiction, signing of MCAA by both jurisdictions, notification of each other under section 7(1)(f) of the MCAA and adequate confidentiality and data safeguards in each jurisdiction,” Ministry of Finance said in a statement. India already signed the MCAA with its intended exchange partners which include all the signatories of MCAA.

The Government has taken adequate measures, including policy-level initiatives, more effective enforcement action, robust legislative and administrative frameworks, systems and processes with a focus on capacity building and integration of information and its mining through increased use of information technology, to tackle the issue of black money stashed in other countries.

Among the key initiatives include constitution of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Black Money, enactment of a comprehensive law, constitution of Multi-Agency Group (MAG), involvement of foreign governments with an aim to facilitate and enhance the exchange of information under Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAAs)/Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs)/Multilateral Conventions.

The framework will also accord high priority to the cases involving black money for investigation, while also focusing on non-intrusive measures to prosecute the offenders at the earliest for credible deterrence against tax evasion/black money and furthering global efforts to combat tax evasion/black money.