Black money trail: India in talks with 28 nations for info
NEW DELHI, MAY 19:
In its ongoing quest to draw information on illegal incomes stashed abroad, the Indian revenue authorities are in negotiations with as many as 28 different countries/jurisdictions for tax information exchange agreement (TIEA).
This agreement will enable Indian tax authorities to receive banking related information even from offshore jurisdictions that are commonly considered as tax havens.
Already, as of end December 2014, as many as 15 TIEAs were in force. Two more – St Kitts & Nevis and San Marino – have been signed but are yet to come into force.
The 28 jurisdictions/countries with which TIEA negotiations are currently on include Maldives, Seychelles, Grenada, Honduras, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Brunei Darussalam, Cook Islands, Montserrat, Saint Maarten, Faroe Islands, Greenland, Curacao, Dominican Republic, Barbados, Jamaica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Peru and Saint Lucia, official sources said.
The concept of TIEA is a result of the work undertaken by Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development to address harmful tax practices.
An objective of TIEA is to promote international cooperation in tax matters through exchange of information.
The nature of tax-related information that could be shared under a TIEA varies from agreement to agreement.
