New Delhi: The Union ministry of finance on Friday mentioned it’s intensifying scrutiny of overseas belongings and earnings held by Indian residents, utilizing world tax information-sharing frameworks.
This crackdown has brought about a file variety of taxpayers to reveal offshore holdings of their earnings tax filings for the evaluation yr (AY) 2024–25, it mentioned in a press release.
The ministry mentioned that the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) performed a complete comparability of economic knowledge obtained from over 100 international locations underneath the Automated Change of Info (AEOI) mechanism with the overseas asset and earnings disclosures made in earnings tax returns (ITRs).
This train coated all main jurisdictions, together with Switzerland.
In circumstances the place discrepancies had been detected—equivalent to unreported or underreported offshore holdings—the tax division proactively reached out to taxpayers by means of SMS and emails, urging them to overview and replace their filings.
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“Consequently, a complete of 24,678 taxpayers reviewed their ITRs and 5,483 taxpayers filed their belated return for the AY24-25, reporting overseas belongings valuing to ₹29,208 crores and extra earnings of ₹1,089.88 crores as overseas earnings,” the finance ministry mentioned.
“Appropriate motion underneath the extant provision of legislation is into consideration for non-responsive taxpayers,” it added.
The ministry’s announcement got here within the backdrop of a PTI report citing knowledge from the Swiss Nationwide Financial institution, which confirmed that Indian funds in Swiss banks greater than tripled in 2024 to Swiss Franc (CHF) 3.5 billion (round ₹37,600 crore)—marking the very best degree since 2021, when deposits peaked at CHF 3.83 billion.
The sharp rise was attributed largely to a rise in funds held by means of native branches and monetary establishments. Nevertheless, buyer deposits—direct holdings by Indian purchasers—rose by a modest 11% to CHF 346 million ( ₹3,675 crore), accounting for under about one-tenth of the overall.
This improve comes after a steep 70% plunge in Indian deposits in 2023, when the overall fell to a four-year low of CHF 1.04 billion.
The federal government’s data-driven enforcement has led to a surge in compliance.
A complete of 231,000 taxpayers reported overseas belongings and earnings in evaluation yr 2024–25, up 45.17% from 159,000 within the earlier yr, the ministry famous.
The federal government’s intensified use of worldwide data-sharing agreements, together with focused outreach and enforcement, seems to be driving better transparency and voluntary compliance amongst taxpayers with offshore belongings. Enforcement actions are underway for many who proceed to stay non-compliant, the ministry mentioned.
