Washington: India and the US have agreed to enhance cooperation on tackling offshore tax evasion through information sharing and joint audits, while intensifying efforts to combat money laundering and terror financing.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, on the second day of his 7-day visit to US, met US Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew for the Sixth Annual US-India Economic and Financial Partnership (EFP on Thursday and agreed to a dialogue by competent authorities on the two sides to raise engagement on tackling tax evasion.
The US also extended support to National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) in a bid to help India raise resources and fund infrastructure growth, said a Joint statement after the meeting.
"We are committed to continued collaboration and sharing of experience in tackling offshore tax evasion and avoidance, including joint tax audits and tax examination abroad. We look forward to the Competent Authorities of the two countries engaging in bilateral dialogue to move forward cooperation in these areas," it said.
The meeting was also attended by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan among others. "We have enhanced our cooperation in tackling money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism through increased information sharing and cooperation, including a dialogue held recently in India. We both agree on the importance of fighting illicit finance in all forms as an important means of tackling global terrorism," it said.
The two countries noted the progress in sharing of financial information between the two countries under the inter-governmental agreement pursuant to Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).
"The two sides will continue to engage in discussions on full reciprocal arrangement on FATCA. We look forward to increased cooperation in sharing of cross-border tax-information," the joint statement said.
During the meeting, Lew is believed to have appreciated Jaitley's effort to successfully resolve more than half of the concerns related to tax disputes. "Over the past year, our tax authorities resolved a significant portion of bilateral tax disputes between the United States and India," the statement said.
