Pranab to press for voluntary tax info

Proposing a major shift from the present arrangement, New Delhi will ask for voluntary exchange of tax related information among G20 countries. It wants G20 to set the precedence so later other countries can be urged to do so.

Proposing a major shift from the present arrangement, New Delhi will ask for voluntary exchange of tax related information among G20 countries. It wants G20 to set the precedence so later other countries can be urged to do so.

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New Delhi may also announce a donation of Euro 3,20,000 to Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, a body that reviews multilateral instruments to check tax evasions.

Currently, the members need to request for tax information from other countries. New Delhi received information related to tax from Germany — a G20 major — recently after pursuing the issue for a long time.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, who left for Paris to attend the G20 finance ministers meet, plans to raise the issue in the first session on Friday. Harping on effective tax administration to ensure strong and sustainable growth at a time when the global economy is going through a tough phase, Mukherjee will propose that the G20 members should start exchanging information automatically for tax purposes with their treaty partners on a voluntary basis.

New Delhi will also ask G20 to give a call on exchange of past banking information and assistance in collection of taxes. Mukherjee’s initiative comes at a time when political pressure is increasingly mounts on the UPA to recover black money. The G20 Summit is scheduled at Cannes later this month.