New Delhi, Mar 26 (IANS): The government clarified on Monday that the last date for furnishing the country-by-country (CbC) report on the return of income under the OECD's Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project remains March 31, 2018, for fiscal 2016-17.

The Finance Ministry also clarified in a statement in New Delhi that this deadline does not apply to "constituent entities of an international group resident in India" in cases where the CbC report could not be obtained because the "parent entity being resident of a country or territory with which India does not have an agreement providing for exchange of CbC reports or where there has been a systemic failure of the country or territory".

In such cases, the statement said, the deadline for furnishing the CbC report is proposed to be prescribed after the enactment of Finance Bill, 2018, as passed by the Lok Sabha.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Paris-based thinktank of developed nations, BEPS project is designed to counter the tax planning strategies used by multinational companies, that exploit gaps and mismatches in tax rules to artificially shift profits to low-tax jurisdictions or offshore havens.

The BEPS project was initiated by the G20 group of economies in 2012.

"The CbC Report is to be furnished by the ultimate parent entity of an international group in the country or territory of its residence," the statement said.

"The date for furnishing of CbC Report under sub-section (2) of Section 286 for FY 2016-17 was subsequently extended to March 31, 2018, by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in October 2017," it said.

"The Finance Bill, 2018, (as passed by the Lok Sabha) has proposed that the due date for furnishing of CbC Report under sub-section (4) of Section 286 shall be as prescribed," the statement said.

"Accordingly, the time for the furnishing of CbC Report under sub-section (4) of Section 286 of the Act is proposed to be prescribed after the enactment of Finance Bill, 2018," it added.