Giving a fresh thrust to their crackdown on blackmoney, Indian tax authorities have decided to cut down on lengthy paperwork and go for face-to-face engagement with their counterparts in tax havens and other nations to quicken the pace of recovery of tainted money stashed abroad.
The Union Finance Ministry, after due consultations with the SIT on black money and various financial probe agencies, has decided that a team of senior officials will hold bilateral meetings with foreign jurisdictions either in India or at the locations of their counterparts to thrash out issues quickly.
“The step is aimed to cut down on the time taken in paper-based documentation and communication in cases of illegal funds stashed abroad.
“A team of senior officials drawn from the Ministry and its various field formations will hold meetings and put across requests related to probe in these cases right on the discussion table. The required sanctions in this regard have been obtained from the government,” a senior Finance Ministry official said.
The face-to-face engagements are aimed at understanding the problems faced by authorities abroad in parting with information related to black money and solve those at the earliest.