Black money: India-Singapore to share info on tax evaders

A top-level team of Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) will meet officials of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and Income Tax department to exchange data on a number of cases of black money that India suspects is routed from the banking and financial institutions of the Southeast Asian country.

The team, according to sources, had come with the official entourage of Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong who visited India earlier this month.

The team of the IRAS is also expected to thrash out issues related to the number of official requests that Indian tax authorities had sent to them as part of the official exchange of classified information related to taxation.

Indian authorities will hand over the classified list of some specific cases that they are probing and would also obtain from Singaporean authorities progress made in other cases, sources said.

Singaporean authorities, it is expected, would discuss the new measures adopted by both the countries to strengthen financial enforcement and other related ties.

Sources said Singapore has always been very helpful to Indian law enforcement agencies, especially in tax matters.

Both the agencies will sit across the table for two days beginning tomorrow and are also likely to discuss modalities related to conventions framed by global bodies like the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).