Working group to examine India-Mauritius tax accord changes

The government on Monday said it has constituted a working group to examine the issues arising out of amendments made to the India-Mauritius double taxation avoidance agreement.

The working group, headed by a joint secretary of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, has as its members departmental officers and representatives of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), custodians, brokerage firms and fund managers, a finance ministry statement said here.

The group will submit its report to the CBDT within three months, it said.

India signed a protocol agreement with Mauritius last month to prevent evasion of taxes on income and capital gains by entities on either side.

The protocol was signed to tackle long-pending issues of treaty abuse -- where ill-gotten money is first sent to Mauritius through hawala transactions and then it comes back as a legitimate investment. This is called round-tripping.

--IANS

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