Overview of Indian Tax Information Exchange Agreements

Tax information exchange agreements are getting prominent in the globalized world; they play a pivotal role in eliminating tax evasion, which is a very big problem for developing countries like India to tackle tax evasion and tax avoidance. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has implemented an instrument called Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs) to promote international cooperation in tax matters through exchange of information and also to counter harmful tax practices. The countries facing tax evasion by the taxpayers, i.e., shifting their incomes to tax heavens, can be reduced to a greater extent by negotiating more and more tax information exchange agreements. Keeping all the above-said factors in focus, this paper mainly analyzes the recent developments in the exchange of Tax Information between India and other countries. The paper brings about the important features of Indian tax information exchange agreements, Indian Network of tax information exchange agreements, Historical developments, Peer Review process, Steps in tax exchange of tax information, and overall mechanism. The paper concludes that Tax Information Exchange Agreements are significant to tackle tax evasion and harmful tax practices in India, and there must be a sound policy of negotiating tax information exchange agreements with more tax heavens and countries.