HSBC Geneva: I-T digs for more info

The Income Tax department has begun digging for more banking and fund records data of those persons who feature on the classified HSBC bank Geneva list, sent to India by the French government.

The department, through the finance ministry, has written to a number of foreign tax authorities as details of stashed funds on more than 60 per cent of those named on the list show the bank balances of a particular day rather than the entire financial transactions done by the account holder.

Sources said in most of the cases featuring on the secret list, either the bank balances are very small or show 'nil' amounts without stating the actual amount of funds secretly hidden by the individual.

The I-T and the Finance Ministry, hence, has now approached a few countries including Switzerland and France to allow them access to the 'full transaction activity' of these entities from the period the accounts were opened.

"The communication with foreign tax authorities are being done under the provisions of the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement," sources said. The I-T department has also written to few more countries after a probe by enforcement agencies showed that the featured entities could have invested funds at these offshore locations in order to evade the tax scanner.

ALSO READ

Cautious RBI cuts repo by 25 bps, says little space for more easing

‘Govt mulling stronger laws to block Ponzi schemes’

Unilever plans to spend up to $5.4 bn to ramp up stake in HUL

NTPC did not abuse position, says CERC