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DATE: May 16, 2016 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: May 19, 2016 (Date of publication)
AY: 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07
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Entire law on what constitutes a Permanent Establishment (PE) in India in terms of Article 5(1), 5(2)(l) or Article 5(5) of the Indo-USA DTAA explained. If the alleged PE has been assessed on ALP basis in terms of Article 7, no income has escaped escapement so as to justify issue of s. 148 notice

Even if the subsidiary of a foreign company is considered as its PE, only such income as is attributable in terms of paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 7 can be brought to tax. In the present case, there is no dispute that Adobe India – which according to the AO is the Assessee’s PE – has been independently taxed on income from R&D services and such tax has been computed on the basis that its dealings with the Assessee are at arm’s length (that is, at ALP). Therefore, even if Adobe India is considered to be the Assessee’s PE, the entire income which could be brought in the net of tax in the hands of the Assessee has already been so taxed in the hands of Adobe India. There is no material that would even remotely suggest that the Assessee has undertaken any activity in India other than services which have already been subjected to ALP scrutiny/adjustment in the hands of Adobe India

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DATE: April 6, 2016 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: May 17, 2016 (Date of publication)
AY: -
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CITATION:
S. 143(2)/ 245R(2): A notice u/s 143(2)(ii) cannot be issued in a routine, casual or mechanical manner but after forming an opinion that it is "necessary or expedient" to do so. A S. 143(2) notice in the standard form is not a bar u/s 245R(2) for admission of an AAR application for advance ruling

Under Section 143 (2) (ii) of the Act, an AO can serve on the Assessee a notice requiring him to attend his office and produce any evidence on which the Assessee seeks to rely in support of return if the AO “considers it necessary or expedient to ensure that the Assessee has not understated the income or has not computed excessive loss or has not underpaid the tax in any manner’. Therefore, the scope of the enquiry that an AO can undertake in terms of Section 143 (2) (ii) is a wide ranging one. What is relevant for the present case is that prior to issuance of the notice under Section 143 (2) (ii) the AO has to form an opinion that it is ‘necessary or expedient’ to ensure that an Assessee has not (i) understated the income or (ii) has not computed excessive loss, or (iii) has not underpaid the tax in any manner. The AO is, therefore, not expected to issue a notice under Section 143 (2) (ii) in a routine or casual or mechanical manner

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DATE: May 13, 2016 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: May 16, 2016 (Date of publication)
AY: 2001-02
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CITATION:
S. 40(a)(i): The law in s. 40(a)(i) that failure to deduct TDS on payment to a non-resident will result in a disallowance violates the non-discrimination clause in Article 26 of the India-USA DTAA because a similar disallowance is not made on payments to residents (pre s. 40(a)(ia))

The argument of the Revenue overlooks the fact that the condition under which deductibility is disallowed in respect of payments to non-residents, is plainly different from that when made to a resident. Under Section 40 (a) (i), as it then stood, the allowability of the deduction of the payment to a non-resident mandatorily required deduction of TDS at the time of payment. On the other hand, payments to residents were neither subject to the condition of deduction of TDS nor, naturally, to the further consequence of disallowance of the payment as deduction. The expression “under the same conditions” in Article 26 (3) of the DTAA clarifies the nature of the receipt and conditions of its deductibility. It is relatable not merely to the compliance requirement of deduction of TDS. The lack of parity in the allowing of the payment as deduction is what brings about the discrimination

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Posted on by Ankul Goyal
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DATE: May 4, 2016 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: May 5, 2016 (Date of publication)
AY: 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06
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CITATION:
Important principles laid down whether profits arising from off-shore supply of goods can be taxed in India on basis that (a) the goods continued in the possession of seller till acceptance of the goods by buyer in India, (b) the seller had a liaison office in India, (c) the seller had a wholly-owned subsidiary in India which negotiated contacts with the buyer, (d) installation, commissioning etc services were provided in India etc

The controversy whether the Assessee has a PE in India is interlinked to the finding that Nortel India had discharged some of the obligations of the Assessee under the Equipment Contract. Whilst, the Income Tax Authorities have held that the contracts entered into with Reliance – the Equipment Contact, Software Contract and Services Contract – are essentially a part of the singular turnkey contract, the Assessee contends to the contrary. Further, the Income Tax Authorities have held that a part of the Equipment Contract assigned to the Assessee was, in fact, performed by Nortel India. This too, is stoutly disputed by the Assessee. The question whether the Assessee has a PE in India is clearly interlinked with the issue whether Nortel India or Nortel LO had performed any of the functions or discharged any of the obligations assumed by the Assessee. Assessee argued that agreement for supply of hardware (Equipment Contract) could have been directly executed between Reliance and the Assessee but owing to relaince’s insistence on an Indian company being responsible for the entire works, agreements were executed between Nortel India and Reliance, with Nortel Canada as a surety.

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DATE: April 27, 2016 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: May 5, 2016 (Date of publication)
AY: 2009-10
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CITATION:
S. 195/ 40(a)(ia): Commission paid to non-resident agents for services rendered outside India is not liable for TDS u/s 195. The retrospective amendment to s. 195 to provide that s. 195 applies whether or not the non-resident person has a residence or place of business or business connection in India makes no difference to the legal position

As the commission agent did not have any business connection in India as they had no permanent establishment in India and in fact neither any income arose or accrued to non-resident agent in India. DCIT v/s Ardeshi B Cursetjee & Sons Ltd. 115 TTJ 916 which held that the commission paid to non-resident agent outside India for the services rendered were not chargeable to tax in India. In these circumstances, there was no occasion to deduct tax at source in respect of the payment made to the non-resident agent

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DATE: January 20, 2016 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: April 28, 2016 (Date of publication)
AY: 2010-11
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CITATION:
S. 195/ 40(a)(ia): Commission paid to a non-resident for services rendered outside India is not chargeable to tax in India and is not liable for TDS. Insertion of Explanation 4 to s. 9(1)(i) and Explanation 2 to s. 195(1) by FA 2012 w.r.e.f. 01.04.1962 and insertion of Explanation below s. 9 (2) by FA 2010, w.r.e.f. 01.06.1976 makes no difference to the law

The commission payments to the non-resident agents are not taxable in India, as the agents are remaining outside, services are rendered abroad and payments are also made abroad. The contention of the Revenue that the Tribunal ought not to have relied upon G.E.India Technology’s case, cited supra, in view of insertion of Explanation 4 to Section 9 (1) (i) of the Act with corresponding introduction of Explanation 2 to Section 195 (1) of the Act, both by the Finance Act, 2012, with retrospective effect from 01.04.1962 is not correct. When the transaction does not attract the provisions of Section 9 of the Act, then there is no question of applying Explanation 4 to Section 9 of the Act

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Posted on by Brettlee
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DATE: March 18, 2016 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: March 28, 2016 (Date of publication)
AY: 2007-08 and 2006-07
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CITATION:
Deduction of section-10B, transferring pricing adjustment on account of ECB from parent company

Revenue has not disputed the submission made by the assessee before the CIT (A) that effective rate of interest paid by it in India was 6.62% on
loans. Interest paid by assessee on loans taken from AE abroad was 5%. This was below the rate of interest assessee was paying on loans taken
within India. When internal CUP with unrelated parties is available, in our opinion, it should be given precedence over external CUP Once such raw
gherkins are put into some process which increases its shelf life to six months or more, there indeed happen some irreversible change. Raw
gherkins are changed from its original state to a state where it remains good for human consumption even after six months. Thus the steps as
undertaken by the assessee which included fermentation and which extended the shelf life of raw gherkins, even if we construe as not ‘manufacture’, as commonly understood, it cannot be denied that it resulted in a product which cannot be equated with raw gherkins. The processes undertaken by the assessee had significant effect on the raw nature, converting it to a material capable of withstanding decay for a considerable period of time. In our opinion, in such a situation, it is difficult to say that what was packed by the assessee after the various process was very same as the raw gherkins which it got from its contract farmers

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DATE: March 7, 2016 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: March 25, 2016 (Date of publication)
AY: 2009-10
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CITATION:
S. 195/ 40(a)(ia): Controversy whether in view of retrospective amendment to s. 195 to provide that s. 195 applies whether or not the non-resident person has a residence or place of business or business connection in India, even commission to non-resident agents for services rendered outside India is liable for TDS u/s 195 and has to suffer disallowance u/s 40(a)(ia) to be reconsidered by ITAT

In Gujarat Reclaim & Rubber Products Ltd it has been, inter alia, held that before effecting deduction at source one of the aspects to be examined is whether such income is taxable in terms of the Income Tax Act. This aspect has not been considered by the Tribunal while concluding that the Appellant has committed a default in not deducting the tax at source. As the said learned Division Bench Judgment was not available while passing the impugned order by the learned Tribunal, we find it appropriate, in the interest of justice, to quash and set aside the impugned order of the learned Tribunal to the extent it holds that the Appellant has defaulted in not deducting tax at source and remand the matter to the Tribunal to examine the said aspect afresh in the light of the judgment of this Court after hearing the parties in accordance with law

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DATE: March 11, 2016 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: March 14, 2016 (Date of publication)
AY: 1998-99
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CITATION:
S. 9(1)(vii)/ Article 12: “Startup services”, though technical in nature, are not assessable as “fees for technical services” u/s 9(1)(vii) if they do not involve any “construction, assembly mining or like projects”. The services are also not taxable under Article 12 as they do not “make available” technical knowledge

We are of the opinion that technical services or the start-up services, provided by the assessee, did not include any construction, assembly mining or like projects and therefore the payment received by it would not constitute FTS as per the provisions of the Act. Here, we would like to refer to the decision of the Hon’ble Madras High Court delivered in the case of Neyveli Lignite Corporation (243ITR459).In that case the assessee was engaged in the mining of lignite. It had entered in to an agreement with a Hungarian company for acquiring steam generating plant for more efficient running of its business. The AO held that income had accrued to Hungarian company in India and hence the Indian company was liable for deduction of tax. The Hon’ble court decided the issue in favour of the assessee and held that receipts could not be brought to tax in India, that the payments made by it were not taxable under the provisions of section 9 of the Act. (Ichikawajama-Harima Heavy Industries Ltd (288 ITR 408) referred)

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DATE: March 11, 2016 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: March 14, 2016 (Date of publication)
AY: 2008-09
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CITATION:
S. 9/ 44BB: Income received by a non-resident under a time charter agreement accrues and arises in india even when the vessel and crew are outside the territorial waters of India. Such income is assessable on a presumptive basis u/s 44BB

Gross payments are intricately linked to the services/works rendered by the assessee and arise due to the execution of contract in India, under the terms and conditions of the contract between the assessee and Siem Offshore Inc. The vessel was hired by the contract and it was only for this purpose that the vessel and the crew were involved in the said contract. Thus, it is improper on the part of the assessee to offer to tax its revenues only on a pro-rata basis based upon the number of days the vessel was stationed within 200 nautical miles from the Indian shore line. As the contract for the provision of crew was a continuing contract, it cannot be said that revenues were not earned for the period the vessel was out of the territorial waters of India. Hence, the entire contract amount is to be considered for the purpose of calculating the gross receipts and all receipts received against the execution of the contract would come under the purview of gross receipts. Thus, gross amounts for the months of November 2007, December 2007 and January 2008 are to be included in the gross receipts

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