India receives financial info from US under FATCA: Finance Ministry

The Finance Ministry today said it has received information from the US under the financial information exchange pact FATCA in the last two months and it is being analysed.

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) came into effect from September 30 which has enabled automatic exchange of financial information between India and the US.

"We have received information that's now being processed. The information exchange started on September 30. We have send some information and we have received some and that is being analysed," Department of Revenue Joint Secretary Akhilesh Ranjan said.

The Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) between India and US, signed in July as part of FATCA implementation, requires the Indian Financial Institutions to provide necessary information to Indian tax authorities, which will then be transmitted to the US automatically.

The rules prescribe reporting requirements on a staggered basis starting from 2014, and reporting of all details prescribed from 2017 onwards.

They also specify due diligence procedure for identifying reportable account and various forms.

Indian entities will do a reciprocal information sharing about Americans.

The FATCA agreement enhances tax transparency and accountability in matters of financial reporting and payment of taxes which are legitimately due to various governments.