Blackmoney: India signs multilateral agreement

Taking another step towards combating blackmoney, India has signed a multi-lateral agreement with economic powers like France and Germany.

New Delhi: Taking another step towards
combating blackmoney, India has signed a multi-lateral
agreement with economic powers like France and Germany to
check both tax evasion and avoidance.

The agreement, convention on mutual administrative
assistance in tax matters, is a multilateral agreement of 31
other nations which "promotes international co-operation while
respecting the rights of taxpayers."

The agreement has been signed under the aegis of the
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD),
a top global financial body, at its headquarters in Paris
recently.

A Finance Ministry official said the agreement was signed
by CBDT official and Joint Secretary in foreign tax division
of Finance Ministry Sanjay K Mishra along with OECD Deputy
Secretary General Rintaro Tamakio.

"The convention provides for administrative co-operation
between the parties in the assessment and collection of taxes
with a view to combating tax avoidance and evasion," an OECD
statement said in this regard.

By joining the agreement, India and other 31 signatories,
according to OECD, "send a strong signal that countries are
acting together to ensure that individuals and multinational
enterprises pay the right amount of tax, at the right time and
in the right place."

"India has moved very quickly since its commitment to the
convention at the November G20 ceremony in Cannes and I expect
it will be the first non-OECD G20 country for which the
updated convention is in force", Jeffrey Owens, Director of
the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration said in a
statement today.

"With taxpayers increasingly operating on a global basis,
tax authorities are moving from bilateral to multilateral
cooperation and from exchange of information on request to
other forms of co-operation. The convention is an effective
and practical tool to help tax authorities in their everyday
work," the statement said.

The other members under the convention are Argentina,
Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France,
Georgia, Germany, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan,
Korea, Mexico, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal,
Russia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Turkey,
Ukraine, United Kingdom, and the United States.

PTI

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