Tax Information Exchange Agreement

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/147908/india-cayman-islands-ink-tax.html

India, Cayman Islands ink tax information exchange agreement

New Delhi, Mar 22 (PTI)

India has entered into an agreement with tax-haven Cayman Islands for exchange of information, which will allow the two countries to check tax evasion and money laundering.

"India and Cayman Islands have signed a Tax Information Exchange Agreement," an official statement said today.

This is the fifth Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) -- as it is known in the parlance of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) -- signed by India. The last such agreement was inked with the Bahamas in February this year.

Besides, India has inked TIEAs with Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands and the Isle of Man in the recent past.

Under the agreement with Cayman Islands, 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 foreseeably 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 said.

However, information is to be treated as secret and can be disclosed to only specified person or authorities, which are tax authorities or the authorities concerned with the determination of tax appeal, it added.

The agreement was signed yesterday by Mohinder S Grover, High Commissioner of India to Jamaica and accredited to the Bahamas, and W McKeeva Bush OBE, JP Premier and Minister for Finance and Tourism Development from Cayman Islands, the statement said.