The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the Signing of Terms of Reference (TOR) governing the engagement of the designated Indian Expert to provide tax assistance to Swaziland (now known as Eswatini) under the Tax Inspectors Without Borders Programme between India and Eswatini.

Point-wise details

(i) An Indian Expert has been mutually selected by the Government of India and the Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini under the TIWB programme.

(ii) The Terms of Reference will formalize the conditions of the engagement of the designated Indian Expert to provide tax assistance to Eswatini under the TIWB Programme.

Major Impact

The engagement of the Indian Expert under the TiWB programme will give impetus to India's support in capacity building in tax matters in developing countries.

Background

The Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TIWB) Programme which is jointly launched by UNDP and OECD is intended to support developing countries to strengthen national tax administrations through building audit capacity and to share this knowledge with other countries. The TIWB Programme aims to strengthen tax administrations of developing countries by transferring technical know-how and skills to their tax auditors, and through the sharing of general audit practices and dissemination of knowledge products with them. The TIWB Programme complements the efforts of the international community to strengthen cooperation on tax matters and contribute to domestic tax mobilisation efforts of developing countries. India has been supportive in capacity building in tax matters in developing countries. India being a global leader in this respect has a very important role to play in South-South Cooperation in tax matters.

Terms of Reference for tax assistance formalise engagement of an Indian expert to build audit capacity in Eswatini. Approval was granted for signing Terms of Reference to govern the engagement of a designated Indian expert under the Tax Inspectors Without Borders Programme to provide tax assistance to Eswatini. The TOR will formalise conditions of engagement, enabling delivery of technical assistance aimed at transferring audit know how, building audit capacity among Eswatini's tax auditors, and supporting dissemination of audit practices and knowledge products.