India, Germany to resume talks on DTAA revision

India and Germany have agreed to resume negotiations on partial revision of double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA), the government said on Friday.

The two countries have agreed to explore possibilities of enhancing tax related information while continuing to share information on the basis of existing agreements, the ministry of finance said in a statement.

On August 17, a high level delegation led by Indian revenue secretary Shaktikanta Das had met German state secretary Johannes Geismann and other senior officers in Berlin.

During the meeting, they discussed issues relating to exchange of tax related information, base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project, DTAA negotiations and others.

The two countries agreed to resume negotiations on partial revision of the DTAA with a view to bring the provisions relating to exchange of information to international standards.

It was also agreed that both sides would meet in New Delhi in September and strive to agree on a final version to ensure that it was signed soon.

It may be noted that an amending Protocol to the existing DTAA was last discussed by the competent authorities of the two countries in New Delhi in April 2011, but further progress in the matter could not be made.

Indian and German delegations also agreed to continue sharing tax related information on the basis of existing agreements and explore possibilities of enhancing information sharing.

As signatories to the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement regarding automatic exchange of information on financial accounts, Germany and India would begin negotiations as soon as possible towards a memorandum of understanding laying out the technical details of automatic information exchanges on financial accounts.