Press Release, dated 1-8-2012

What it does

Announces the signing of a Tax Information Exchange Agreement between India and the Principality of Monaco, the ninth such agreement signed by India. The agreement follows the international standard of transparency and exchange of information: the information sought must be foreseeably relevant to the administration and enforcement of the domestic tax laws of the parties, the requesting State must supply minimum details to justify that relevance, and the information received is to be kept secret and disclosed only to tax authorities or authorities concerned with determination of a tax appeal, or to another person or jurisdiction with the written consent of the requested party's competent authority. The requested party must supply information even where it does not need it for its own tax purposes, banking and ownership information is specifically covered, tax examination abroad is provided for, and exchange is permitted forthwith on entry into force.

Why it was issued

The press release does not give a reason beyond recording the signing and setting out the salient features of the agreement.

Who it reaches

Indian residents with accounts or entities in Monaco
Investigation wings seeking banking and ownership information abroad
Taxpayers under examination where a tax examination abroad may be conducted

The instrument, as the Board published it

The words below are the department’s own, reproduced from its published text. Where the department’s copy carried a publisher’s notes after the instrument, those are not reproduced.

India Signs Tax Information Exchange Agreement with Monaco
Press release, dated 1-8-2012
Government of India and Government of Principality of Monaco have signed a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) yesterday. The agreement was signed by the Minister of State for Finance, Shri S S Palanimanickam from Indian side and Counsellor of Government for Finances and Economy, Mr. Marco Piccinini from Monaco side. This is the ninth TIEA being signed by India.
Salient features of this agreement are
- It is based on international standard of transparency and exchange of information.
- Information must be foreseeably relevant to the administration and enforcement of the domestic laws of the Contracting Parties concerning taxes and tax matters covered by the agreement.
- The requesting State has to provide some minimum details about the information requested in order to justify the foreseeably relevance criteria.
- Information is to be treated as secret and can be disclosed to only specified person or authorities, which are tax authorities or the authorities concerned with the determination of tax appeal.
- It also provides for disclosure of information to any other person or entity or authority or any other jurisdiction (including foreign Governments) with the written consent of the competent authority of the requested Party.
- There is a specific provision that the requested Party shall provide upon request the information even though that Party may not need such information for its own tax purposes.
- There is a specific provision for providing banking and ownership information.
- There is a specific provision for Tax Examination Abroad where authorities of one State can present in the tax examination of taxpayer in the other State.
- Upon entry into force, the Agreement allows exchange of information forthwith.
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What to watch

This is a press release announcing a signing, not Board authority; the operative document is the agreement as notified.
Exchange runs forthwith only upon entry into force, and this text does not say when that occurred.
The confidentiality limb bites both ways: information received can be disclosed only to the specified authorities or with the written consent of the competent authority.
There is nothing here on the years or periods to which a request may relate.

Where you meet it

In a search or reassessment proceeding founded on information obtained from a foreign jurisdiction, where the source and the route of the information are in issue.

← Circular No. 6/2012 · Press Release [NO. 402/92/2006-MC (20 OF 2012)], dated 1-8-2012 →

A circular binds the department, not you and not a court. The Board issues a circular to its own officers. An assessee may hold the department to a circular that helps him; the department cannot hold an assessee to one that hurts him, and the Tribunal and the courts decide the law for themselves.

Source: the Income Tax Department’s own published text — its page for this instrument.