Switzerland To Hand Over HSBC Data To India

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

09 August 2018

India is to receive bank account information from HSBC, after Switzerland's highest court ruled that the bank is obligated to provide data requested where the leaked data has not been purchased.

The information was leaked in 2008 by Herve Falciani, who worked for HSBC's Swiss private bank. The Indian authorities sought bank account data relating to two Indian citizens, who opposed its release on the basis that evidence of their alleged non-compliance with Indian tax laws had been the result of data theft.

Reuters reported that the Court ruled India should be given the data requested, providing the data was not purchased. The latest ruling could lead to other countries privy to the leaked data to request details of their resident taxpayers' affairs in Switzerland where they have not purchased leaked information.

Last week, Switzerland's Federal Administrative Court turned down a request by the French authorities for data on UBS bank accounts. It said that the French request had failed to "deliver grounds for assuming that the taxpayers involved have failed to comply with their obligations" and that "simply having an account in Switzerland is not sufficient."

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