Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said the rules governing international taxation are being re-negotiated and appealed to the BRICS economies to have a meaningful role in shaping the emerging framework for cross-border taxation.
During her address at the BRICS Tax Head meeting 2026, Sitharaman said several multilateral tax negotiations, including the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, are currently underway and decisions taken in the coming years could determine the direction of international taxation for a generation.
“The rules of international taxation are being renegotiated. There are several multilateral tax negotiations including the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation under active negotiation," added the Minister.
She emphasized that the role of BRICS countries is “essential” to ensure that the emerging international tax architecture is fair and durable.
The comments come at a time when developing economies and ones from the global South are aiming to have a greater say in global taxation framework and rule-making, with special focus on the taxation of cross-border economic activity and the allocation of taxing rights between source and residence jurisdictions.
"The decisions made in these processes over the next few years will shape cross-border taxation for a generation. BRICS economies — as source jurisdictions, as large developing economies, as countries that have built significant domestic tax capacity from a low base — have a perspective on those negotiations that is essential to their fairness and their durability, " added the Minister.
Sitharaman also underlined that India’s BRICS Chairship aims to produce a set of decisions that would go beyond the current year and will contribute to build on the work undertaken by previous chairs and create institutional mechanisms that could be carried forward by future BRICS presidencies.
After the BRICS taxation meeting, it has been proposed to have two working groups — one on International Taxation and Transfer Pricing, and other one on Revenue Statistics--- to addresse the disproportionate impact on developing-country tax administrations.
“Transfer pricing disputes cost developing-country administrations disproportionately. Revenue frameworks that don't fit our fiscal realities distort how we are seen and how we see ourselves. These Working Groups exist because every country in this room has experienced these problems, "she said.
The proposed working groups, she said, would provide a sustained institutional platform for BRICS countries to work on these issues rather than attempting to resolve them within a single chairship.
She said the aim is to ensure continuity irrespective of which country holds the BRICS chair in subsequent years.