Tax effect in over 100 identified cases estimated to be around Rs.50-80 crore
The Income Tax department has urged known Swiss Bank account holders to come forth, in exchange for a lesser penalty, with details of black money deposits they have stashed away overseas, according to an official note. Acting on orders from the CBDT to bring such evaders under the tax net, the Finance Ministry’s probe wing has offered such persons the bargain of not being tried under the “wilful evaders” category if they will approach their banks for details of their personal balances and submit them to Indian agencies.
The tax effect in these cases is reportedly estimated at about Rs.50-80 crore.
Faced with non-cooperation from Switzerland, which has withheld information about illegal account holders citing “domestic legal barriers” and “treaty limitations”, the probe wing has confronted those named in secret lists obtained through “official and unofficial” channels during the last financial year. According to the note accessed by PTI, over 100 such accountholders — spread across cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Chandigarh and Bangalore — have agreed to the new mechanism. “The tax effect in these cases could be about Rs. 50-80 crore and this instance is one of the few where secret bank data of an Indian client was obtained despite strict secrecy laws of Swiss authorities in force in this regard,” sources privy to the development said on condition of anonymity.
The Special Investigation Team unearthing black money has, on the back of the data, submitted a report to the Supreme Court. The Income Tax department, the note said, has begun prosecution action in these over 100 cases and they will be charged for evasion of taxes on this hidden income.
The taxman has also initiated action to discover the “source of income” of these entities so as to unearth any other instance of tax evasion linked to these accounts.
“While bank authorities in Switzerland did not extend help when the names of these account holders were sent to them under existing protocols of tax information exchange treaties, information was readily available when the accountholder was himself or herself motivated to approach the bank to obtain his transactions history and balances,” the sources said.
The Swiss government has been refusing to share details about the Indians named in the so called ‘HSBC list’, which was stolen by a bank employee and found its way to tax authorities in various countries, including India.
Signal to China? Modi extends Japan trip by a day-Times of India
NEW DELHI: If anybody thought Japan had fallen off PM Narendra Modi's radar after he decided to postpone his visit in July, Modi is more than making up for it. In a sign that Japan remains one of the countries closest to his heart, Modi on Sunday decided to extend his visit to Japan starting later this week by a day.
TOI has learnt that Modi will now depart for Tokyo on August 30, not August 31 as the government had earlier announced, and will visit one more city apart from Tokyo. The extension of the visit could send a bold signal to China.
The PM was earlier scheduled to depart for Tokyo on August 31 and return on September 3. With the change in schedule, Modi will now spend four nights in Japan, the maximum by any Indian PM on a bilateral visit in recent times. The move by Modi, who likes to keep his schedule very tight during visits abroad, is certain to please his admirers in Japan, a country he was on outstanding terms with even as Gujarat CM.
The PM was earlier scheduled to depart for Tokyo on August 31 and return on September 3. With the change in schedule, Modi will now spend four nights in Japan, the maximum by any Indian PM on a bilateral visit in recent times. The move by Modi, who likes to keep his schedule very tight during visits abroad, is certain to please his admirers in Japan, a country he was on outstanding terms with even as Gujarat CM.
Modi is also known to share a great personal rapport with his counterpart Shinzo Abe, who regularly draws comparison with Modi for his nationalist leanings.
Modi, who has been described by some as India's? Shinzo Abe and others as India's Richard Nixon, will do a tough balancing act next month when he hosts Chinese President Xi Jinping, weeks after his meeting with Abe.
Modi, who has been described by some as India's? Shinzo Abe and others as India's Richard Nixon, will do a tough balancing act next month when he hosts Chinese President Xi Jinping, weeks after his meeting with Abe.
While India and Japan look at each other as important partners for ensuring peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, in the face of growing Chinese assertiveness, Modi is also looking at exploring new opportunities with Beijing at least in the form of greater economic engagement, as he told Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in a telephonic conversation after taking over as PM. Li told Modi then that China wanted a more robust partnership with India.
It may be recalled that Modi's predecessor Manmohan Singh too had decided to extend his visit to Japan at the last moment in 2013. Coming as it did just after a standoff over Chinese incursion into Ladakh which lasted for weeks, top government officials? did not shy away from admitting that Singh's decision was by design and meant to send a signal to Beijing.
Modi is hoping for, as foreign minister Sushma Swaraj put it earlier, a successful and substantive visit to Tokyo. While the negotiations for a civil nuclear cooperation agreement continue to linger on, the government is hoping to conclude a deal for purchase of US-2 amphibian aircraft from Japan which, under Abe, has just eased its almost 50-year-old self-imposed ban on arms export and transfer of defence technology. As reported by the Japanese media, Tokyo may allow India to manufacture parts of the military aircraft to execute the deal.
Japan will also be Modi's most important bilateral visit since taking over as PM. With Gujarat now hailed by Japan as a favourite investment destination, as its ambassador Takeshi Yagi put it recently, Modi has enough goodwill he earned there as the state's CM. He has spoken effusively about his experience of working with Japan and tweeted earlier that he wanted to take relations with Japan to newer heights. Abe continues to maintain that the India-Japan bilateral relationship has more potential that any other similar relationship in the world.
It may be recalled that Modi's predecessor Manmohan Singh too had decided to extend his visit to Japan at the last moment in 2013. Coming as it did just after a standoff over Chinese incursion into Ladakh which lasted for weeks, top government officials? did not shy away from admitting that Singh's decision was by design and meant to send a signal to Beijing.
Modi is hoping for, as foreign minister Sushma Swaraj put it earlier, a successful and substantive visit to Tokyo. While the negotiations for a civil nuclear cooperation agreement continue to linger on, the government is hoping to conclude a deal for purchase of US-2 amphibian aircraft from Japan which, under Abe, has just eased its almost 50-year-old self-imposed ban on arms export and transfer of defence technology. As reported by the Japanese media, Tokyo may allow India to manufacture parts of the military aircraft to execute the deal.
Japan will also be Modi's most important bilateral visit since taking over as PM. With Gujarat now hailed by Japan as a favourite investment destination, as its ambassador Takeshi Yagi put it recently, Modi has enough goodwill he earned there as the state's CM. He has spoken effusively about his experience of working with Japan and tweeted earlier that he wanted to take relations with Japan to newer heights. Abe continues to maintain that the India-Japan bilateral relationship has more potential that any other similar relationship in the world.
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