The BJP government published an infographic on the 48-months portal that makes four claims about enabling legislations to curb corruption. This article is a fact check of the claims. The BJP government published an infographic on the 48-months portal that makes four claims about enabling legislations to curb corruption. This article is a fact check of the claims. Has ‘Double Taxation Avoidance agreement’ been signed with 3 new countries? The first claim is that ‘double taxation avoidance agreement signed with Mauritius, Cyprus, Singapore’. The double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) is basically a treaty that is signed between two countries that lets the tax payers in these countries avoid being taxed twice in both the countries. India has these agreements with a number of countries including Australia, Canada, United States of America and the United Kingdom. The website of the Income Tax department displays all the DTAAs that India has signed. Mauritius, Cyprus and Singapore are on that list along with tens of others. As per the Income Tax website, there are about 135 such agreements of varying nature. The agreement with Mauritius states that ‘whereas the annexed Convention between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of Mauritius for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income and capital gains and for the encouragement of mutual trade and investment has come into force on the notification by both the Contracting States to each other on completion of the procedures required by their respective laws, as required by Article 28 of the said Convention’. This agreement was amended in August 2016 to make is more comprehensive. The agreement with Cyprus states that ‘an agreement and protocol between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of the Republic of Cyprus for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income as set out in the Annexure to this notification, was signed at Nicosia, Cyprus on the 18th day of November, 2016’. The agreement with Singapore states that ‘whereas the annexed agreement between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of the Republic of Singapore for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income has entered into force on 27th May, 1994 on the notification by both the Contracting States to each other of the completion of the procedures required by their respective laws, as required by the said Agreement’. This agreement has been amended in 2005, 2011 and most recently in 2017. It can be seen from the agreements that DTAA is not new and have been signed by previous governments also. It is also evident that of the three countries mentioned the claim, only Cyprus is a new agreement and the other two are amendments to older agreements or protocols. Claim: Double taxation avoidance agreement signed with Mauritius, Cyprus, Singapore Fact: DTAA is not new and have been signed by previous governments also with a number of countries. As per the Income Tax website, there are 135 such agreements. It is also evident that, of the three countries mentioned the claim, only Cyprus is a new agreement and the other two are amendments to older agreements. Hence, the claim is MISLEADING. Is there an agreement on real time information sharing with Switzerland? The second claim is that ‘agreement on real time information sharing with Switzerland’. A number of policy related MoUs have been signed with Switzerland. One of such agreements is the ‘Joint Declaration on Automatic Exchange of Information on Tax Matters – signed in November 2016’. This agreement allows for real time information sharing of the finances related to Indian nationals with bank accounts in Switzerland. Switzerland and India are among a list of 84 countries that share such information with other countries. Switzerland shared its information with 36 countries, while India shared it with 58 as per the 2018 OECD report on this issue. The report of the OECD committee further states that ‘in 2014, the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (the Global Forum) adopted the Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters (the AEOI Standard), developed by the OECD working with G20 countries. To deliver a level playing field, the Global Forum launched a commitment process under which 100 jurisdictions committed to implement the AEOI Standard in time to commence exchanges in 2017 or 2018’.