BRICS Establishes India-Led Tax Working Groups on Transfer Pricing and Revenue Statistics; 2026 Progress Report Adopted

BRICS tax administrations have created two new India-led working groups—one on International Taxation and Transfer Pricing and another on Revenue Statistics—and formally adopted the BRICS Tax Progress Report 2026. The outcomes were announced after the BRICS Heads of Tax Authorities Meeting in New Delhi on 23 September 2026, hosted by the Central Board of Direct Taxes as the culmination of India’s 2026 chairship of the tax-cooperation track.

According to the Ministry of Finance release issued through PIB, tax authorities from Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates participated. The significance for tax professionals is institutional rather than an immediate domestic compliance change: the meeting created continuing forums for cross-border tax work, but it did not announce a new Indian tax rate, return, form or filing deadline.

Two India-led working groups will continue beyond the 2026 chairship

The first new group covers International Taxation and Transfer Pricing, while the second covers Revenue Statistics. The Ministry says both will be led by India and are intended to operate as sustained institutional platforms irrespective of which country holds the BRICS chair.

For transfer-pricing and international-tax teams, that distinction matters. A BRICS working group can shape cooperation, technical exchange and the positions administrations develop over time, but the 23 September release itself does not amend Indian transfer-pricing law or reporting obligations. Domestic compliance changes still need their own statutory, regulatory or administrative instrument.

That is separate from practitioner-facing Indian guidance work. For example, CA Samaaj has covered ICAI’s exposure draft for its Section 92E transfer-pricing guidance note, which concerns professional reporting under Indian law rather than BRICS tax-administration cooperation.

The Young Tax Professionals programme becomes an annual BRICS feature

The meeting also institutionalised the first in-person BRICS Young Tax Professionals Capacity Building Programme, held at the National Academy of Direct Taxes in Nagpur in April 2026, as an annual feature. That turns a chairship-year programme into a recurring channel for capacity building among participating tax administrations.

BRICS also formally launched a Tax Cross-Learning Lab. The Ministry says this platform brings together work previously carried out through the Client-Centric Administration and HR Practices working groups, creating a joint peer-learning mechanism. The Terms of Reference for a BRICS Tax Support Network were approved as well.

The Progress Report records India’s 2026 tax-chairship work rather than creating a new tax rule

The Heads of Tax Authorities concluded the meeting by signing the BRICS Tax Progress Report 2026, described by the Ministry as the complete record of India’s chairship of the BRICS tax track. The release also identifies China as the incoming chair of the BRICS tax-cooperation track for 2027.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman used the meeting to frame the year’s cooperation around technology, administration and people. The Ministry also recorded her reference to ongoing negotiations on the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation and the importance of BRICS perspectives in those discussions.

What international-tax teams can take from the announcement now

The immediate practical value is to know where future BRICS technical cooperation is now formally housed. Transfer-pricing professionals can watch the International Taxation and Transfer Pricing group for later outputs; policy and data teams can watch the Revenue Statistics group; and tax-administration specialists can track the Cross-Learning Lab and annual young-professionals programme.

None of those institutional outcomes should be converted into a taxpayer obligation before a competent authority issues a binding rule, notification, circular or other operative instrument. For now, the 23 September release is a roadmap of BRICS tax-administration cooperation and a record of India’s chairship outcomes, not a change to an Indian taxpayer’s filing calendar.

Official source: View the official source document