Finance secretary urges BRICS nations to share covid-19 related tax measures

• Since March, the government slew of measures to help the industry tide through the covid-19 crisis, including deferring several compliance requirements
• The meeting of the heads of tax authorities from five large emerging economies of the world on Friday was hosted by the Federal Tax Service of Russia

Finance and revenue secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey on Friday urged Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) nations to share measures implemented by their tax administration that will help them understand fiscal and economic impact of the global pandemic

Sharing these taxation norms is expected to encourage other nations to evaluate ways to support the government in containing the spread and recovering from covid-19 crisis. Pandey also urged the BRICS nations to agree for wider sharing of information exchanged under tax treaties to counter corruption, money laundering and terror financing.

The meeting of the heads of tax authorities from five large emerging economies of the world —Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa—on Friday was hosted by the Federal Tax Service of Russia, to explore potential areas of cooperation in tax matters and the discuss nations’ response of the tax authorities to coronavirus.

“The finance secretary shared with other BRICS nations, various measures taken by India to mitigate the effect of the pandemic on the taxpayers including deferment of compliance requirements, reduced rate of interest on delayed payments and reduction in withholding tax rates," an official statement said.

Since March, the government slew of measures to help the industry tide through the covid-19 crisis, including deferring several compliance requirements.

On addressing tax challenges posed by digitalisation, Pandey said that there is a need to ensure that the new tax rules are fair and simple. It should also be flexible enough to cover emerging business models, he said.

“The tax heads of other BRICS nations shared the measures taken by their respective tax administrations and their thoughts on other agenda items like tax challenges posed by digitalisation and exchange of information," an official statement said.

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