To address India’s concern on misuse of tax avoidance, Mauritius has promised to tackle all possible misuse of tax treaty between the two countries, while ensuring its commercial viability, on mutually acceptable terms. Mauritius' Ministry of Finance and Economic Development said 'we wish to reiterate that Mauritius is committed and willing to collaborate fully to address the concern of the Indian side on the DTAC (Direct Tax Avoidance Convention), while ensuring that the treaty remains commercially viable.’
Welcoming Indian Finance Minister P Chidambaram's statement clarifying the recent concerns over Tax Residency Certificate (TRC) issue, Mauritius ministry stated that we are optimistic that both the countries can conclude a mutually acceptable package that would yield the solution. It said that Chidambaram’s statement on making TRC 'a necessary but not sufficient' condition to avail of the benefits under double taxation avoidance agreements has created much confusion among investors in India and internationally, including those using Mauritius to do business with India.
Mauritius, which has been often accused of being used as a medium for routing of untaxed funds to and from India, has said that India has acted promptly to clarify the situation regarding the validity of the TRC and the proposed amendment has been interpreted as providing wide powers to the Indian tax authorities to question the TRC produced by a resident of a contracting state. In FY14 Budget, finance minister specified that ‘the TRC produced by a resident of a contracting state will be accepted as evidence that he is a resident of that contracting state and the income tax authorities in India will not go beyond the TRC and question his residence status.’
Further, it added that a Certificate of Residence delivered by the Mauritian authorities would constitute sufficient evidence for accepting the status of residence as well as beneficial ownership for claiming benefits under Indo-Mauritian, DTAC. Mauritius has already agreed with India on tax information exchange agreement, which incorporates provisions on assistance in the collection of taxes. The next meeting of the Group is scheduled to take place in the last week of this month, in India.
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