India will request Switzerland to provide details of all undisclosed accounts held by Indian nationals in HSBC, Geneva, as the investigation into tax evasion by rich Indian nationals becomes bigger.

If the Swiss authorities indeed cooperate with India on this, tax authorities here will be able to probe further the source of funds parked by wealthy Indians with HSBC Geneva and full details of their income which has not disclosed so far, a senior tax official said.

The official who declined to be named given the sensitive nature of the probe underway said that the government will explore the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement or DTAA route to gain more details. Last year, the French government passed on to India a list containing 700 names of Indians with bank accounts in HSBC, Geneva.

The list formed part of the data stolen by a former employee of the bank. Most of these account holders were classified as beneficiaries of certain trusts. A few Indians in the list voluntarily disclosed the details to the income tax department before action could be taken, the official said.

Some of them disclosed these accounts by revising their annual income tax returns. The Income Tax Act provides for such a revision if a taxpayer believes that a genuine mistake has been made while filing the tax returns.

The revised India-Switzerland tax treaty will be operational from April 1, 2012, but the tax authorities can ask for information on specific accounts under the existing provisions. (Economic Times)