Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the decisions taken in ongoing multilateral tax negotiations over the next few years would shape cross-border taxation for a generation.
Addressing the inaugural session of the BRICS Tax Heads meeting in New Delhi today, Ms Sitharaman said, BRICS countries are large developing economies and source jurisdictions that have built significant domestic tax capacity from a low base and their perspective is essential to making these negotiations fair and lasting.
Talking about tax administrations, Ms. Sitharaman said they are moving from paper-based and relationship-dependent processes to data-driven and digital systems. She added that India’s experience with faceless assessment, pre-filled returns, real-time invoice authentication and AI-enabled taxpayer assistance has attracted interest from BRICS partners.
The Minister said three broad areas have emerged from the BRICS tax track this year including technology, administration and people. Ms. Sitharaman said the meeting will consider the scoping documents for two new Working Groups – on International Taxation and Transfer Pricing, and on Revenue Statistics.
Ms. Sitharaman said transfer pricing disputes cost developing-country tax administrations disproportionately. She added that revenue frameworks that do not match their fiscal realities can affect how countries are seen and how they see themselves.
