Members of Forum on Tax Administration to share tax information by 'offshore leaks'

The Forum on Tax Administration (FTA), a 45-nation grouping on tax administration which includes India, has agreed to share among themselves tax information received by its member nations from "offshore leaks".

The "offshore leaks" is a recent financial scandal in April 2013, that bring to light the details of 2.5 lakh individuals and entities from over 170 countries, including India, who evaded taxes by setting up companies in tax havens.

The FTA, in its last meeting at Moscow held on May 16 and 17, decided to share more data among the member nations to address the menace of tax fraud. FTA was set up in July 2002 by the Paris-based think tank Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

According to the communique issued after the meeting, three FTA members - Australia, the UK and the US - have obtained a very significant amount of data, revealing complex offshore structures.

Several FTA members have called on the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) to share the data they have acquired about offshore evasion, mentioned the communique.

The ICIJ has reportedly found a trove of 2.5 million digital files, detailing "secrets of more than 1,20,000 offshore companies and trusts and nearly 1,30,000 individuals and agents".

FTA has also developed tools to improve the information gathering on cross-border financial transfers, to decode banking transactions and to identify the beneficial owners of complex structures.