Shri P.C. Mody, Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), inaugurated the Web Portal for Exchange of Information on Income Tax Website here today.

The Web Portal consolidates all the relevant Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) related information at one place for convenient access by financial institutions, Departmental officers as well as public at large.

India is committed to exchange financial account information automatically from 2017 under the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) on Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI). Information is reported annually by financial institutions which are then exchanged by India under the standard.

The Web Portal would be a repository of policy and technical circulars/guidance/notifications issued by the CBDT, and provide links to relevant circulars/guidance issued by the regulatory authorities in India and other international bodies. The portal would not only be useful for the domestic financial institutions but will also help the foreign tax authorities and financial institutions to get information about the Indian laws, rules and procedures related to AEOI under CRS.

To implement the AEOI standard, necessary domestic legal framework was put in place in 2015.  A comprehensive Guidance Note was released on 31st August 2015 to provide guidance to the financial institutions, sectoral regulators and officers of the Income Tax Department for ensuring compliance with the reporting requirements under the Income-tax Act and Rules. The sectoral regulators have also issued necessary notifications and circulars for compliance by the financial institutions. Stakeholder consultations are also carried out by CBDT to educate financial institutions about their reporting obligations. In its persistent endeavour to reach out to the financial institutions and account holders, CBDT has created an Exchange of Information portal on the Income-tax Department website for dissemination of information to all stakeholders.

Automatic Exchange of Information portal consolidates CRS reporting guidance and compliance resources for financial institutions. A consolidated web portal centralizes material related to the Automatic Exchange of Information under the Common Reporting Standard, serving as a repository of policy, technical circulars, guidance and notifications to facilitate compliance by financial institutions, assist tax officers and inform foreign authorities. India committed to CRS-based automatic exchange from 2017, supported by a 2015 domestic legal framework and Guidance Note setting out reporting obligations, with sectoral regulators issuing complementary measures and CBDT conducting stakeholder consultations to promote compliance.