India to Seek Tax Avoidance Agreements with Nine Territories

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Apr. 20 – India is considering negotiating tax treaties in nine territories to help curb tax avoidance.

The nine identified territories include: Cayman Islands; Bermuda; British Virgin Islands; Gibraltar, all British overseas territories; Guernsey; Isle of Man; Jersey, all British crown dependencies; Netherlands Antilles, an autonomous part of the Kingdom of Netherlands; and Macau, a Special Administrative Region of China.

Last year’s revision of the Income Tax Act allows the government to enter into an extra agreement with specified territories.”The central government can, now, initiate and negotiate agreements for exchange of information for the prevention of evasion or avoidance of income tax and assistance in collection of income tax with these nine specified territories,” according to a government statement.

India is also in talks to sign tax treaties with other countries to cut overseas tax avoidance. Currently, a notification that will identify Hong Kong, also a Special Administrative Region of China, as a specified territory is underway.