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MINISTRY OF FINANCE
(Department of Revenue)
NOTIFICATION
(INCOME-TAX)
New Delhi, the 8th September, 2016
S.O. 2894(E).—Whereas, an Agreement between the Government of the Republic of India and the
Government of the Republic of Seychelles for the Exchange of Information with respect to Taxes (hereinafter
referred to as the said Agreement) as set out in the Annexure to this notification, was signed at New Delhi on
the 26th day of August, 2015;
And whereas, the said Agreement entered into force on the 28th day of June, 2016 being the date of
the later of the notifications of the completion of the procedures required by the respective laws for entry into
force of the said Agreement, in accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 12 of the said Agreement;
Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 90 of the Income-tax
Act, 1961 (43 of 1961), the Central Government hereby notifies that all the provisions of said Agreement, as
annexed hereto as Annexure, shall be given effect to in the Union of India, in accordance with Article 12 of
the said Agreement.
ANNEXURE
AGREEMENT
BETWEEN
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDIA
AND
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SEYCHELLES
FOR
THE EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION
WITH RESPECT TO TAXES
The Government of the Republic of India and the Government of the Republic of Seychelles, desiring to
facilitate the exchange of information with respect to taxes have agreed as follows:
Article 1
Object and Scope of the Agreement
The competent authorities of the Contracting Parties shall provide assistance through exchange of information
that is foreseeably relevant to the administration and enforcement of the domestic laws of the Contracting
Parties concerning taxes covered by this Agreement. Such information shall include information that is
foreseeably relevant to the determination, assessment and collection of such taxes, the recovery and
enforcement of tax claims, or the investigation or prosecution of tax matters. Information shall be exchanged
in accordance with the provision of this Agreement and shall be treated as confidential in the matter provided
in Article 8. The rights and safeguards secured to persons by the laws or administrative practice of the
requested Party remain applicable to the extent that they do not unduly prevent or delay effective exchange of
information.
Article 2
Jurisdiction
Information shall be exchange in accordance with this Agreement without regard to whether the person to
whom the information relates is, or whether the information is held by, a resident of a Contracting Party.
However, a requested Party is not obliged to provide information which is neither held by its authorities nor is
in the possession or control of persons who are within its territorial jurisdiction.
10
THE GAZETTE OF INDIA : EXTRAORDINARY
[PART II—SEC. 3(ii)]
Article 3
Taxes Covered
1. The taxes which are the subject of this Agreement are:
a)
in India, taxes of every kind and description imposed by the Central Government or the
Governments of political subdivisions or local authorities, irrespective of the manner in which they
are levied;
b)
in Seychelles, taxes of every kind and description imposed by the Government, irrespective of
the manner in which they are levied.
2. This Agreement shall also apply to any identical or substantially similar taxes imposed after the date of
signature of this Agreement in addition to, or in place of, the existing taxes. The competent authorities of the
Contracting Parties shall notify each other of any substantial changes to the taxation and related information
gathering measures which may affect the obligations of that Party pursuant to this Agreement.
Article 4
Definitions
1. For the purposes of this Agreement, unless otherwise defined:
a) the term “India” means the territory of India and includes the territorial sea and airspace above it, as well
as any other maritime zone in which India has sovereign rights, other rights and jurisdiction, according to the
Indian law and in accordance with international law, including the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea;
b) the term “Seychelles” means the territory of the Republic of Seychelles including its exclusive economic
zone and continental shelf where Seychelles exercises sovereign rights and jurisdiction in conformity with the
provisions of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea;
c) the term “Contracting Party” means India or Seychelles as the context requires;
d) the term “competent authority” means
i) in the case of India, the Finance Minister, Government of India, or its authorized representative;
ii) in the case of Seychelles, the Minister responsible for Finance, or its authorized representative;
e) the term “person” includes an individual, a company, a body of persons and any other entity which is
treated as a taxable unit under the taxation laws in force in the respective Contracting Parties;
f) the term “company” means any body corporate or any entity that is treated as a body corporate for tax
purposes;
g) the term “publicly traded company” means any company whose principal class of shares is listed on a
recognised stock exchange provided its listed shares can be readily purchased or sold by the public. Shares
can be purchased or sold “by the public” if the purchase or sale of shares is not implicitly or explicitly
restricted to a limited group of investors;
h) the term “principal class of shares” means the class or classes of shares representing a majority of the
voting power and value of the company;
i) the term “ recognised stock exchange” means
(i)
in India, the National Stock Exchange, the Bombay Stock Exchange, and any other stock
exchange recognised by the Securities and Exchange Board of India;
(ii)
in Seychelles, a securities exchange licensed under the Securities Act, 2007 or any other law
governing securities exchanges; and
(iii)
any other stock exchange which the competent authorities agree to recognise for the purposes
of this Agreement;
j) the term “collective investment fund or scheme” means any pooled investment vehicle, irrespective of legal
form;
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11
k) the term “public collective investment fund or scheme” means any collective investment fund or scheme
provided the units, shares or other interests in the fund or scheme can be readily purchased, sold or redeemed
by the public. Units, shares or other interests in the fund or scheme can be readily purchased, sold or
redeemed “by the public” if the purchase, sale or redemption is not implicitly or explicitly restricted to a
limited group of investors;
l) the term “ tax” means any tax to which this Agreement applies;
m) the term “requesting Party” means the Contracting Party-
(iii)
submitting a request for information to, or
(iv)
having received information from,
the requested Party;
n) the term “requested Party” means the Contracting Party-
(iii)
which is requested to provide information, or
(iv)
which has provided information;
o) the term “ information gathering measures” means laws and administrative or judicial procedures that
enable a Contracting Party to obtain and provide the requested information;
p) the term “information” means any fact, statement, document or record in any form whatever.
2. As regards the application of this Agreement at any time by a Contracting Party, any term not defined
therein shall, unless the context otherwise requires or the competent authorities agree to a common meaning
pursuant to the provisions of Article 11 of this Agreement, have the meaning that it has at that time under the
law of that Party, any meaning under the applicable tax laws of that Party prevailing over a meaning given to
the term under other laws of that Party.
Article 5
Exchange of information Upon Request
1. The competent authority of the requested Party shall provide upon request information for the purposes
referred to in Article 1. Such information shall be exchanged without regard to whether the requested Party
needs such information for its own tax purposes or whether the conduct being investigated would constitute a
crime under the laws of the requested Party if such conduct occurred in the requested Party.
2. If the information in the possession of the competent authority of the requested Party is not sufficient to
enable it to comply with the request for information, that Party shall use all relevant information gathering
measures to provide the requesting Party with the information requested, notwithstanding that the requested
Party may not need such information for its own tax purposes.
3. If specifically requested by the competent authority of the requesting Party, the competent authority of the
requested Party shall provide information under this Article, to the extent allowable under its domestic laws,
in the form of depositions of witnesses and authenticated copies of original records.
4. Each Contracting Party shall ensure that its competent authority, for the purposes specified in Article 1 of
this Agreement, has the authority to obtain and provide upon request:
(a) information held by banks, other financial institutions, and any persons acting in an agency or
fiduciary capacity including nominees and trustees;
(b) information regarding the legal and beneficial ownership of companies, partnerships, collective
investment funds or schemes, trusts, foundations, “Anstalten” and other persons, including, within the
constraints of Article 2, ownership information on all such persons in an ownership chain; in the case of
collective investment funds or schemes, information on shares, units and other interests; in the case of trusts,
information on settlors, trustees and beneficiaries; in the case of foundations, information on founders,
members of the foundation council and beneficiaries; and equivalent information in case of entities that are
neither trusts nor foundations. This Agreement does not create an obligation on the Contracting Parties to
obtain or provide ownership information with respect to publicly traded companies or public collective
