India negotiating with Swiss authorities on secrecy clauses

India is negotiating with Switzerland and other countries to revise the secrecy clause in bilateral treaties like double taxation avoidance agreements to get information on matters like black money.

Official sources said unless secrecy clauses change, the government cannot do much about black money stashed in banks of Switzerland and other countries.

India is negotiating with Switzerland and other countries to change these secrecy clauses in the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA).

If these clauses change, appropriate Indian authorities could have information, which currently is exchanged only with tax authorities, they said.

The issue came to the fore during the Lok Sabha election when opposition parties demanded repatriation of black money stashed away in tax havens.

Sources said the government is negotiating with Mauritius to amend the DTAA to prevent companies routing investment through that country to India, to avoid paying taxes.

Various companies have been incorporated in Mauritius to take advantage of the Indo-Mauritius treaty, which is called treaty shopping.

According to the treaty, capital gains are to be assessed in accordance with the law of the state of residence of the entity.