In yet another effort aimed at checking the growth of black money and the same being stashed abroad, India on Thursday announced it had entered into a pact with the British Virgin Islands for exchange of information to check tax evasion and money laundering.
This is the third Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) — as it is known in the parlance of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development — signed by India. “India and British Virgin Islands have signed a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) in London on Wednesday,'' an official statement said on Thursday.
Under the agreement, there is a specific provision for providing banking and ownership information and the requesting state has to provide some minimum details about the information requested.
“Information must be relevant to the administration and enforcement of the domestic laws of the contracting parties concerning taxes and tax matters covered by the agreement,'' the statement added.
However, information is to be treated as secret and can be disclosed to only specified person or the authorities concerned with the determination of a tax appeal.
The agreement also allows for exchange of past information in criminal tax matters.
The agreement was signed by Nalin Surie, the High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom, and Dancia Penn OBE, QC, the Deputy Premier of the British Virgin Islands.
