March, 2005

The Government has recently approved the signing of a limited multilateral agreement among SAARC countries (India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka & Maldives) for avoidance of double taxation and to provide for mutual administrative assistance in tax matters. The agreement had been in the making since 1996, when the seventh meeting of the Committee on Economic Cooperation of SAARC decided to have a multilateral treaty for avoiding double taxation.