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India will get info on Swiss bank account holders sometime this month for the third year in succession, under an automatic information exchange pact with Switzerland. But what is different this year is that for the first time Indian authorities will be given information on real estate properties owned by Indians in Switzerland.

Real estate information

Indian authorities will get complete information about the flats, apartments, and condominiums among other properties owned by Indians there, along with earnings received from these properties to get a sense of tax liabilities of the Indian individuals, according to a Business Standard report. This information exchange is part of India’s attempt at cracking down on the black money stashed abroad.

The business daily quoted experts saying that the move would help Switzerland, which is trying to rebrand itself as a global financial hub and shed the image of helping people park their illicit money, establish itself as a preferred transparent financial and real estate market in the world.

One of the experts quoted by the BS was Himanshu, founder and CEO of Switzerland For You SA, the parent firm of IDDI Investments, which works towards attracting investments from India and other countries to Switzerland. According to him, this proposal by the Alpine nation in trying to shed the image of an opaque repository of illicit cash was a welcome move.

“We find no valid reason for Swiss authorities to hide such information. After all, the ownership of property is not something that can be kept under wraps…Sharing such information with other countries under AEOI will bring in more transparency and act as deterrence for those intending to buy Swiss properties from ill-gotten wealth. The move will go a long way in making Switzerland an attractive investment destination,” Himanshu was quoted as saying.

Disclosures are part of image rehaul

This will be the third consecutive year that Switzerland will share vital information on financial transactions and assets held by Indians in Swiss banks and as usual, the Swiss authorities are expected to do this in the month of September. Each year the Swiss authorities have made disclosures of around 3 million accounts to authorities across the globe. The number of accounts for which disclosures will be made is expected to be higher this year.

In September 2019, India was part of 75 such countries globally, which received its first cache of the information under the AEOI (Automatic Exchange of Information), detailing the assets parked by its citizens in Swiss banks.

Swiss authorities, which are making the disclosures based on the recommendations of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, are yet to accept Global Forum’s recommendations to disclose information about digital currencies and contributions made to foundations and non-profit organisations. The pressure was mounting on the Alpine nation to begin disclosing this information as well.

Many officials aware of the development disclosed that the financial details about to be shared with Indian authorities relate mostly to businessmen, including NRIs settled in several South-East Asian countries as well as in the United States, the United Kingdom, and South American as well as African nations.