The Securities and Exchange Board of India's (Sebi's) investigation into the Hindenburg allegations is making slow progress when it comes to obtaining information from overseas regulators, particularly around ultimate beneficial ownerships of certain foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), said people in the know. "Establishing ultimate beneficial ownerships for FPIs is a very complex exercise. "Several jurisdictions allow omnibus structures where the end beneficiaries are not required to be captured or are based in some other geographies.
Indians having undisclosed income in the United States (US) may face proceedings under Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, this financial year. Also, those named in global leaks may be searched, show-caused, and prosecuted, according to the FY23 internal action plan of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). The CBDT has rolled out an aggressive target and timeline to investigate tax evasion matters, especially those involving undisclosed foreign assets.
Penalties for non-disclosure or inaccurate disclosure of these details can be severe.
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The 'in substance' agreement with India under Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act was concluded on April 11, the US Treasury said.
Long accused of being a route for avoiding taxes for foreign investments into India, Mauritius says it has put additional safeguards in place to thwart such wrong perceptions and to boost its image as a preferred global financial centre.
Mihir Tanna, Associate Director, S K Patodia & Associates, answers your tax queries.
Two organisations tracking tax violations and money laundering worldwide identify totally different sets of countries for lack of financial transparency.
Marking the end of strict banking secrecy practices, Switzerland earlier this month agreed to automatic exchange of information and mutual administrative assistance in tax matters with overseas authorities.
Disclose foreign assets, redesignate NRO a/c and open a Resident Foreign Currency a/c to park forex earnings
Many requests are pending with the Swiss authorities.
In a major relief to Indian information technology (IT) companies operating in Australia, Canberra has agreed to amend its domestic laws to stop taxing offshore income of such Indian companies, as part of the free trade deal inked. This may lead to savings up to $200 million each year for over 100 Indian IT companies operating in Australia. "The Government of Australia has agreed to amend the domestic taxation law to stop the taxation of offshore income of Indian firms providing technical services to Australia. "This will resolve the issue that the Indian government has raised about the double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) between the two governments for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income," said a commerce ministry official.
India Inc is staring at significantly higher compliance and governance costs, following the Securities and Exchange Board of India's (Sebi's) latest tightening of disclosure norms and regulations around the filling of key positions, the materiality of information, and third-party transfers. Recently, the securities market regulator amended the Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements (LODR) to introduce a raft of changes that will affect how listed companies go about transparency and disclosures. The new framework will further empower public shareholders and soon move towards a 'comply or be penalised regime or comply or explain' in the case of high-value debt-listed entities.
Their favourite alternatives: Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines. Note, India is missing from that list. And this is despite an attractive financial incentive scheme for OSAT players. The reason, said a senior executive of a US chip company who had a meeting in Taiwan just a few weeks ago, is that "they want more predictability in government policy because they plan to put in big money."
Mauritius promises India full-cooperation on tax treaty issues.
India and Singapore had in 2013 amended the DTAA to help exchange banking and tax-related information more effectively.
India has signed a pact with the British Virgin Islands to check tax evasion and money laundering.
India and Switzerland on Monday signed the revised Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement, a move that will help the government seek details about illicit wealth allegedly stashed away by Indians in Swiss banks.
Armed with automatic information exchange pact with the US, government on Thursday asked persons holding undisclosed offshore assets to declare them before September 30 as it would be difficult to hide unaccounted assets in future.
Both countries have been working on administrative assistance.
The amendment would help check round-tripping of funds and boost the domestic consumption, Jaitley added
The Swiss Finance Ministry spokesperson further said the treaty states that "such persons or authorities shall use the information 'only' for such purposes.
Occasionally, a whistle-blower releases sensitive financial data.
Under pressure from India and other countries for sharing account details of suspected tax offenders, Swiss banks have said any information exchange would be according to the conditions set out by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the grouping of mostly developed nations.
Switzerland will not share details about accounts held prior to September 2018.
Black money is difficult to deal with.
Anil Rego, CEO, Right Horizons, answers your personal income tax queries
In its effort to unearth black money stashed away abroad, India has received data on over 24,000 instances of alleged tax evasion and dubious funds which has been detected in foreign shores in the last financial year.
The government also informed the apex court that it has completed negotiations for Tax Informations Exchange Agreement with 10 countries where the money is believed to have been stashed.
The instruction is that audit of large units be completed within seven working days, of medium units in five working days and of small ones in three.
The Parthasarathy Shome committee gives its second reform report to finance ministry.
Black money is difficult to deal with.
Financial institutions at the risk of US sanctions as sharing of documents on SC directive amounts to violation of existing agreements.
The amended treaty will enable India to get banking information in specific cases, beginning April 1, 2011.
Replying to a question in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman said the drive against tax evasion is an ongoing process and the government has taken various steps under a multi-pronged strategy to deal with the issue of black money.
The ruling mean FPIs cannot seek treaty protection against the new withholding tax that companies are required to deduct at source. The apex court order pertains to when the cricketing bodies of Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka formed a joint committee to conduct the 1996 Cricket World Cup.
NDTV promoter group firm RRPR Holding has told VCPL, which along with two other Adani group firms has launched a hostile takeover bid for the media firm, that its stakeholding in NDTV has been provisionally attached by the I-T authorities and require their approval for the transfer. The contention has been rejected by the Adani group, which termed it as "misconceived and misleading" statements while asking RRPR Holding to convert the warrants into equity shares. In a regulatory filing, NDTV said that its founders Radhika and Prannoy Roy have informed that RRPR Holding has intimated Adani group firm Vishvapradhan Commercial Pvt Ltd (VCPL) that the attachment of the shareholding, notified in 2018, shall remain in place until the completion of reassessment proceedings.
If India was able to provide additional and new information about people and entities that figure on stolen lists, they may consider it to exchange information
Addressing Parliament on the first day of Budget session, President Pratibha Patil said steps have already been initiated for negotiations to enter into agreements for the exchange of information with major jurisdictions.
To curb the black money problem, Jaitley said that India would be entering into bilateral pacts with Switzerland and other countries for automatic exchange of tax information.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said Switzerland has agreed to share information on Indians having illicit money in Swiss banks on independent evidence provided in each case to the Alpine nation.
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