Berne: In a fresh disclosure on suspected black money cases being probed by tax authorities in India, Switzerland on Tuesday said it has received request for information about Indore-based textiles firm Neo Corp International Ltd.
Neo Corp, which began as a small woven sack maker in 1985 and now claims to be a multinational technical textiles group, had incidentally faced income tax searches on its various premises earlier in February for alleged tax evasion.
As part of its bilateral treaty for administrative assistance and exchange of information with Switzerland, India has sought details about numerous individuals and companies from the Alpine nation as part of its crackdown against suspected black money stashed in Swiss banks. Neo Corp is the latest in a series of Indian names that have been published in the official gazette of the Swiss government about whom the tax authorities in India have sought information from their counterparts of Switzerland.
About a dozen such names have been disclosed so far, while many other requests are pending with the Swiss authorities who conduct their own due diligence before starting the process of sharing the information.
The notification about the concerned entity’s right to appeal is generally the first step in the information exchange process. This is typically seen as the Swiss government in-principle agreeing to share the information.
As per the notification published on Tuesday, Neo Corp will have 30 days’ time to appeal against “administrative assistance” by the Swiss Federal Tax Administration as per their local laws. The appeal needs to be filed before the Swiss Federal Administrative Court, while giving reasons and evidence for the same, the notification said, , without disclosing further details about the case and the company, except for its date of incorporation — February 15, 1985. There was no response to queries about the latest Swiss action despite repeated calls to its office in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.
