From today, a new beginning to end global bank secrecy: G20
CAIRNS/AUSTRALIA: India may have scored a big win in its efforts to receive information on black money stashed away overseas as the G20 grouping of nations is set to endorse on Sunday a framework for automatic exchange of information on bank accounts, putting an end to global bank secrecy.
A number of countries, including Mauritius, a preferred gateway for foreign investments into India, and often an interest of the taxman for loopholes in tax laws, are expected to start exchange of information under the new framework by 2017.
A new global investment facility for infrastructure and small and medium enterprises by World Bank is also to be unveiled on Sunday. “The era of bank secrecy is over,” said Pascal Saint-Amans, director of the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration on the sidelines of the ongoing G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting.
A G20 communique will talk tough on countries reluctant to adopt the new strong standard proposed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a grouping of 34 countries that has been leading the attack on bank secrecy.
New Delhi has been pushing for a meaningful exchange of information and is among the first few countries that will begin sharing bank data automatically from September 2017. The framework would allow countries to get details on bank accounts, interest income, royalties and annual dividends, besides account balance.
This implies that by 2018, tax havens such as Bahamas, Cayman Islands and Mauritius will have to provide information on the annual income as well as the account balance, which will give a history of transactions.
