'Uncertainty level A in the morning, uncertainty level B in the afternoon. If I answer about tariff rates now, I'll be outdated by the evening.'
The CBDT is investigating Jane Street for possibly misusing the India-Singapore tax treaty.
The Centre is in talks with Mauritius with regard to the long-pending revision of the bilateral tax treaty.
Move comes at a time when the issue of black money stashed in Swiss banks has become a major concern in India with political parties and civil society taking up the matter.
The income-tax (I-T) department has issued showcause notices under Section 68 of the Income-Tax Act to several startups over funds routed through Singapore, seeking explanations for investments received over the past five years, people familiar with the development said. The department is questioning the source, identity, and creditworthiness of overseas investors in these transactions, they said.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has planned a slew of further relaxations to facilitate easier registrations of foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), including a common know-your-client (KYC) and smoother documentation through India digital signature.
In a significant development towards renegotiation of tax treaty with Mauritius, the Finance Ministry has written to the Ministry of External Affairs to take up the issue of including more areas of information exchange in the agreement between the two countries.
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 may have to wait a little longer to get a trail of illegal money stashed by Indians in Liechtenstein.
Cyprus has said the Indian government has agreed to withdraw a notification that suspended tax benefits for investments from the island nation.
Plans to probe into financial details of more than 500 individuals, entities that might have secret offshore accounts at various places abroad
The amendment would help check round-tripping of funds and boost the domestic consumption, Jaitley added
Switzerland has been facing international pressure as countries step up efforts to curb illicit fund flows.
rediffGURU Samkit Maniar answers readers' personal income tax queries
This is the first time that this important nodal national agency for economic intelligence has obtained data on suspected offshore stash of Indians as, till now, such information was only received by the exclusive wing of the Central Board of Direct Taxes.
India and Cyprus had entered into a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement in 1994.
Mauritius promises India full-cooperation on tax treaty issues.
The SIT found and reported that there was no amount shown in almost 289 HSBC Geneva entries, while 122 of them were repeated twice in the same list.
The absence of criminal legal treaties between India and tax haven nations have been cited by probe agencies working in the SIT on black money as one of the major impediments in initiating steps to bring back illegal funds stashed abroad by Indians.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley had recently sent a delegation to Switzerland and the members had returned with some positive movement.
The people of Indian descent account for a vast majority (about 70 per cent) of Mauritius population.
'Despite rising inflows, many NRIs lack awareness about NRO and NRE accounts and mistakenly use family accounts or invest in a relative's name.' 'Many are unaware of tax implications.'
In a major development in the fight against black money, multilateral grouping OECD today unveiled a 'single global standard' for automatic exchange of financial account information by various countries including India and Switzerland.
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.
Two organisations tracking tax violations and money laundering worldwide identify totally different sets of countries for lack of financial transparency.
Switzerland finally signed an agreement to exchange information on potential money launderers and tax dodgers last week but neither this nor a modified tax avoidance treaty is likely to help India.
Indore-based textiles firm Neo Corp is the latest in a series of Indian names that have been published in the official gazette of the Swiss govt.
India and Singapore had in 2013 amended the DTAA to help exchange banking and tax-related information more effectively.
Occasionally, a whistle-blower releases sensitive financial data.
The Swiss Finance Ministry spokesperson further said the treaty states that "such persons or authorities shall use the information 'only' for such purposes.
India is among 75 countries with which Switzerland's Federal Tax Administration has exchanged information on financial accounts within the framework of global standards on Automatic Exchange of Information.
The Indian mrime minister supported a new global standard on automatic exchange of tax information
Switzerland only provided information on tax fraud that led to criminal activity. But the Swiss definition of tax fraud is quite narrow, which means that a false invoice is not a crime. Now, any tax abuse will be covered.
Experts of both the countries will meet by mid-September 2016 to further discuss the modalities for the reciprocal bilateral implementation of AEOI between India and Switzerland with a view to reaching an agreement at the earliest, possibly by the end of the year
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.
'The corporate tax cuts will obviously result in lower tax payments by companies,' says Central Board of Direct Taxes member Akhilesh Ranjan who retires after 37 years in government service.
In the past, several other Indian nationals have been named in such notifications after the Swiss FTA was approached by Indian authorities for information about those people with regard to the pending tax-related probes against them.
Modi promised in his 2014 election campaign to recover billions of dollars sent to tax havens abroad to avoid income tax, now about 30 per cent in India
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.
India has a double-taxation avoidance pact with Singapore and more than 85 countries.
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