G-20 meet: FM highlights need for info exchange on crypto, immovable assets

business-standard.com:

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday called on the G-20 nations to examine the feasibility of bringing non-financial assets such as crypto and immovable properties under the purview of automatic exchange of information among countries. The move is meant to enhance tax transparency.

“Our investigations have shown that numerous layers of entities are often set up by tax evaders to conceal their unaccounted assets even though the automatic exchange of information framework provides for financial account information to various jurisdictions,’’ the FM said during the G-20 Ministerial Symposium on Tax and Development in Bali.

Tax evaders explore other avenues to shift their unaccounted wealth through investment in non-financial assets, Sitharaman pointed out.

"While the development of crypto asset reporting framework is underway, I call upon the G20 to examine the feasibility of an automatic exchange of information in respect of other non-financial assets beyond those covered under the Common Reporting Standards (CRS) like immovable properties as well," she said.

Rasing concern over tax transparency issues, the FM said that those jurisdictions which are not yet part of the automatic exchange framework will have to be brought in. ‘’For that, G20 must play the role of a catalyst.’’

More than 100 countries have committed to exchanging financial account information under the mechanism.

Global minimum tax

On the proposed global minimum tax deal, the FM said G-20 should ensure that developing nations do not face any unintended consequences and earn meaningful revenues.

A total of 130 countries, including India, had in July last year agreed to a overhaul the global tax norms so that global digital giants such as