The BRICS (i.e., Brazil, Russia, China, India and South Africa) meeting was held in New Delhi on 17 and 18 January 2013.

The heads of revenue of the BRICS countries identified seven areas of tax policy and tax administration for extending their mutual cooperation, as reported in the joint communiqué issued as a press release dated 18 January 2013.

The communiqué expresses the concerns of the BRICS countries on the erosion of the tax base by practices that involve abuse of tax treaty benefits, incomplete disclosure of information and fraudulent claims, and makes a commitment to address these concerns by preventing the base erosion and profit shifting through mutual cooperation.

The subject matter of mutual cooperation includes contribution to development of international standards on international taxation and transfer pricing, taking into account the aspirations of developing countries in general and BRICS countries in particular.

The other areas of cooperation are strengthening the enforcement processes, sharing of best practices and capacity building, sharing of anti-avoidance and non-compliancepractices, and promotion of effective exchange of information.

The communiqué also expresses an agreement among BRICS countries on working together toward capacity building, improvement of systems and sharing of resources, knowledge and best practices, and emphasizes the spirit of cooperation and solidarity that underlies the BRICS partnership and aims at extending it to the area of tax administration in a way that will benefit the people of the BRICS countries.

This was the first meeting of the heads of revenue and, at the conclusion of the meeting, the communiqué was issued in which they agreed to develop greater cooperation among their tax administrations on various issues of mutual interest and concerns.

The communiqué recognizes the importance of the economic and commercial links among BRICS countries and the need to contribute to the strengthening of these links.

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