India can play key role in global tax reform body, says OECD

New Delhi could play a leading role in the proposed global task force on tax and development, being set up by OECD, a top official of the grouping has said.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OCED), primarily a grouping of the rich nations, would be establishing a task force to mainly help the developing world benefit from the international tax environment.

When asked about the proposed informal task force, the official said the membership would be around “20 to 30”.

“We will discuss New Delhi’s possible role with its administration to establish if it is interested... If India joined (the task force), they would take a leading role in sharing their experience and helping to achieve objectives,” the official told PTI in an e-mail statement from Paris.

According to the OECD, the task force would help in implementing a coherent approach towards global tax matters, by engaging the developing nations and other key stakeholders including NGOs and businesses.

The official also noted priority of the task force will include developing a work programme to help the developing nations benefit from new international environment in respect of tax evasion and improving transparency in matters of banking and finance, among others.

“The OECD task force will convene in early 2010 as an informal group representative of all stakeholders, to develop clear and effective mechanisms for implementation and avoid duplication.

“The informal task force will begin by mapping out the existing international efforts relating to tax and development,” OECD had said late last month.

Regarding the participation of NGOs, the official said even though the number of such players in the forum is yet to be decided, around three NGOs would be there.

The decision to set up the forum was taken at the joint meeting on tax and development between the committee on fiscal affairs and the development assistance committee of the grouping last month.

India is already a vice-chair of a global peer review group that monitors the progress made by various countries in improving transparency and exchange of tax information.

The peer review group is part of the ‘Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes’, which is a grouping of the nations that work towards establishing international tax norms.