India will soon be able to seek details on specific individual bank account from Singapore with the amendment to the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with the Singapore Government.
Mr Prakash Chandra, Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes, said the country will be able to get details of the Indians having account in Singapore bank after 90 days from the date of ratification by their Government.
“A similar agreement was singed with the Swiss Government for seeking details on Indians' bank account opened after April 1, since the agreement was prospective,” he said in a press conference in Mumbai on Tuesday.
The Swiss Parliament on June 17 ratified the protocol to amend the DTAA that was signed between both the countries in August, 2010, by the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee and Swiss Federal Councillor, Mr Micheline Calmy-Rey.
Measures
The development comes at a crucial juncture when the Government was facing heat over black money stashed in tax heavens such as Switzerland and Mauritius.
On proposed amendments in the treaty with Mauritius, Mr Chandra said the joint working committee of both the countries which was formed in 2008 have agreed to meet and chalk out the way forward.
The Government in May appointed a high level committee headed by Mr Chandra to suggest policy measure to weed out the menace of black money. In response to the committee's request, the general public had posted over 2,500 suggestions on the specific email (“bm-feedback@nic.in ) in last 10 days, said Mr Chandra.
Plans and targets
CBDT plans to open ten representative offices in important financial centres abroad. At present, it has two units operational at Singapore and Mauritius. “More CBDT will be opened in Japan, Germany, UAE, UK, US, France and Canada with an objective to help Indians in these countries to abide by our law if they have financial dealings here,” said Mr Chandra.
CBDT will achieve the tax collection target of Rs 5.32 lakh crore in this fiscal. “After the meeting with top corporate houses in Mumbai on the economic outlook, I'm confident of meeting the target.”
CBDT plans to expedite corporate cases where the tax recovery demand has been high. “Our aim is to reduce the number of cases filed on tax issues by corporate houses and reach an amicable settlement in previous cases,” he said.