The Indian Government’s income tax department has added the new demand to the tax return form ITR2, which now asks for the account numbers of their overseas bank accounts, names of banks, countries where the bank offices are located, the Swift codes and International Bank Account Numbers.
To date, only resident Indians have been required to supply any bank account details held outside of India.
According to a report in The Times of India, the new clause has been incorporated amid a widely-shared perception that many Indians have moved money from jurisdictions like Switzerland to newly opened bank accounts in destinations such as Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Philip Cernik, chief marketing officer, Middle East and Africa for Friends Provident International, said: “Although the request for this new information goes beyond what we see in most countries, law abiding non-resident Indians have little to fear from declaring offshore accounts on their tax return form as taxes are still based on their country of residence.”
He added that “cross-border information sharing is the new truth in international financial services. We are witnessing a number of measures by governments cooperating with one another across the world to eradicate tax evasion”.
