India and the US have agreed to enhance collaboration on tackling offshore tax evasion and increase cooperation in sharing of cross-border tax information.
“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,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said in a joint statement.
Mr Jaitley and Mr Lew were joined by other senior officials from both sides including Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan. During the meeting, Mr Lew is believed to have appreciated Mr Jaitley’s effort to successfully resolve more than half of the concerns related to tax disputes.
Noting 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 statement said India and the US will continue to engage in discussions on full reciprocal arrangement on FATCA.
The US-India Financial Regulatory Dialogue has brought together the financial regulators on both sides to discuss a range of issues pertinent to their financial sectors and to financial stability.