DZ Bank AG – India Representative Office v. DCIT (Mum)(Trib), www.itatonline.org

S.139: Return- A representative office of a foreign enterprise is not a taxable unit-The foreign enterprise is the taxable unit- A return of income filed in the name of the representative office, with the PAN of the enterprise, offering only the income of the representative office & excluding the other Indian income of the enterprise is not proper- DTAA- India -Germany [ S. 9 (1) (i), 115A(5), Art .7, 11(5) ]

Tribunal held that  a representative office of a foreign enterprise is not a taxable unit. The foreign enterprise is the taxable unit. A return of income filed in the name of the representative office, with the PAN of the enterprise, offering only the income of the representative office & excluding the other Indian income of the enterprise is not proper. However, as the error is inadvertent and without any consequences in terms of loss of revenue, a pragmatic approach must be adopted and the assessee should not be subjected to avoidable inconvenience (ii) As regards the taxability of interest income under the India-Germany DTAA, as the debt claim in question was not “effectively connected” to the alleged PE, the exclusion article 11(5) was not triggered and the taxability under article 7 does not come into play  (ITA No.: 1815/Mum/18, dt. 04.12.2020)(AY.2014-15)