India, Switzerland to discuss tax treaty in Nov

Amid allegations of black money being stashed in Swiss banks, India and Switzerland have advanced their talks on amending the taxation treaty by a month to the second week of November.

The discussions on renegotiating the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA), which comes in the wake of India seeking details of the black money stashed in Swiss banks, was earlier scheduled to be held in December.

"Exact date, I don't remember. I was told, it (the talks on taxation treaty) has been advanced... It may be November 10 or 11, earlier it was December 10,11...," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said, responding to a question on renegotiating the DTAA with the Swiss authorities.

Speaking at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit here, Mukherjee asserted that the government is "genuinely serious" about amending the treaty.

Earlier, Mukherjee had said India and Switzerland would meet in December to negotiate the DTAA amendments.

Regarding the amount of unaccounted money lying in Swiss banks, the Finance Minister said the government had made only one estimate, way back in 1985.

"As far as the estimation (about black money) is concerned, the government has not made any estimates.    "Government made one estimation sometime in 1985 and thereafter, they did not make any effort but there has been some well-documented studies by some experts, some professors and those figures are available," Mukherjee said.

The government would be renegotiating the treaty under Article 26 the OECD Model Tax Convention.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) — a grouping of mainly rich nations — sets the international tax standards. Article 26 of the OECD Model Convention on Income and Capital, covers "tax of every kind and description" and allows for exchange of tax-related information between two countries.

In August, the Swiss banks said India cannot come on a fishing expedition for secret bank account details. The government later made it clear that India was not interested in a "roving inquiry" over unaccounted money stashed in Swiss banks.

The issue of black money deposited by Indian citizens had created a political furore, with Opposition parties demanding the government take immediate steps to bring back the same to the country.