Wealthy Indian-Americans dodging taxes through offshore banking

NEW YORK, Apr 10: The world of off-shore banking has gained a new entrant. It is India to the bewilderment of many. Not long ago there was an uproar in India about wealthy Indians dodging tax and putting their money in countries like Switzerland and Singapore. There has been a change in this trend. Wealthy Indian-Americans are allegedly dodging tax payment through off-shore accounts at various branches in India of London-based bank HSBC. The US Justice Department has sought permission of federal court to force Hongkong Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) to turn over the names of wealthy Indian-American clients suspected of evading taxes through off-shore banking. This is a part of wider investigation into private off-shore services sold by Swiss-style banks. In a similar move, UBS Swiss banking giant paid $780 million to settle criminal accusations that it had defrauded the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by allowing wealthy Americans to hide billions of dollars in taxes in secret off-shore bank accounts. Credit Suisse is also under investigation. The US Justice Department during July -September period last year mailed letters to roughly 50 wealthy Indian-Americans with off-shore bank accounts informing them that they are under scrutiny for tax evasion through accounts with HSBC in India. HSBC said it is not aware of the summons but the bank does not condone tax evasion and fully supports the US bid to promote tax payment. HSBC will cooperate with request from the United States, New York Times (NYT) in a recent report said.