Mauritius defers sharing tax information
Mauritius will start automatic exchange of tax information with other nations only from September 2018, as it has postponed by a year implementation of global common reporting standard on tax matters.
The delay could impact Indian authorities' efforts to gather more tax-related information from Mauritius, which is allegedly being used by some entities to route illegal funds into India.
Once the standard is in force, there would be stringent measures to curb illicit fund flows, including the requirement to carry out due diligence procedures to record tax residence of clients opening new accounts.
Joining global efforts to curb flow of black money and tax avoidance activities, Mauritius had agreed to bring into force the common reporting standard for automatic exchange of tax information with other countries.
Initially, Mauritius was to implement the standard from January 1, 2016. “The first exchange of information under CRS (Common Reporting Standard) will take place from September 2018. The requirement to apply due diligence procedures to record tax residence of clients opening new accounts, takes effect as from January 1, 2017,” Mauritius Revenue Authority has said.
In a recent communique, the authority said that in due course, a technical committee would be convened to discuss and finalise the guidance notes for the implementation of CRS. Queries sent to the Mau-ritius ministry of finance on the issue remained unanswered.