'India likely to sign FATCA pact in early July'

India is likely to sign the inter-Governmental pact for the US tax compliance law FATCA early next month, a Government official said here today."Indian Government is likely to sign the Inter- Governmental Agreement (IGA) for Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) in early July 2015," Akhilesh Ranjan, a Joint Secretary in the Finance Ministry, was quoted as saying in a release issued by industry body Ficci.

Ranjan is in the Foreign Tax and Tax Research Division of the Ministry.FATCA compliance will necessarily have to cover all new accounts opened by Indian Financial Institutions (FIs) from July 1, 2014 onwards.Further, they would be obliged to share data with the government in respect of all new accounts opened from July 1 till December 31, 2014, to enable the Government to share this data with US by September 30, 2015.

The Regulators might also publish detailed guidance for implementation of FATCA.Ranjan, who was speaking at the roundtable discussion organised by FICCI assured that the government is committed to the cause of confidentiality of data and is taking several measures in that direction.