India’s Revenue Secretary, K M Chandrasekhar, Brazil’s Federal Revenue Secretary Jorge Rachid and South African Revenue Service Commissioner Pravhin Gordhan signed a joint declaration on Tuesday committing their organisations to closer ties across a wide range of areas, on both the revenue and customs fronts.

The declaration was signed at the end of a three-day inaugural meeting of the India-Brazil South Africa (IBSA) Heads of Revenue Administrations to discuss current developments in tax, trade facilitation and customs.

Central to the declaration was an agreement to exchange information between the three revenue authorities to help identify high-risk transactions and to speed up the processing of imports and exports. They also agreed to share information on tax, especially abusive tax avoidance arrangements and schemes, using the Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreements already in place, and to perform simultaneous tax audits on common business entities when necessary.

The heads of the revenue administrations also agreed to establish an IBSA Revenue Administration Working Group to further expedite links between their organisations.

The three countries have additionally pledged to work together to develop common positions for trade facilitation negotiations.