Indian Tax Authority Takes Action against Undeclared Assets in Swiss Banks

The Indian government has filed over 107 prosecution complaints and raised about $1.1 billion from assessment orders in its efforts to uncover undisclosed foreign assets.  In a July 26 press release, the Ministry of Finance said that the government filed the complaints and issued assessment orders in 166 cases under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 (the Black Money Act).  This stemmed from an HSBC data leak that contained names of Indians suspected to have parked untaxed wealth in the foreign bank.[1]  The Black Money Act aimed to abolish undisclosed foreign income and assets.[2]  The government is just starting to reap the benefits as the government raised a demand of 8,216 crore, a crore is the equivalent of ten million rupees, and the government filed 107 prosecution complaints in relation to black money.[3]  While the act has yielded positive news, the Indian government is still facing a major headwind, Swiss banks.  Swiss National Bank (SNB) data shows that the Swiss bank deposits by Indians increased by 286% in 2020 compared to 2019.[4]  To make matters worse for the Indian government, a lot of the data from SNB omitted vital information for the Indian government.  This article will further discuss the HSBC data leak, India’s Black Money Act and explore private Indian citizens’ activity within Swiss Banks.