Assessee-company had entered into an agreement with University of Texas USA to carry out research programme and had made payment to avail technical services to said University. Assessing Officer held that the said payment was in nature of royalties/fees for technical services-Therefore, he directed assessee to deduct TDS at rate of 10 per cent (excluding education cess/surcharge) on said payment. Tribunal held that there was neither any patent/copyright used by assessee against which royalty was paid nor there was any technical know-how which was made available to assessee. The said payment was not covered under royalties/fees for technical services. There was no liability on assessee to deduct TDS in pursuance to article 12 of India-USA DTAA.
Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Ltd v. ITO (IT) (2022) 219 TTJ 505/ 218 DTR 147 / (2023) 146 taxmann.com 137 (Ahd)(Trib)
S. 9(1)(vi) : Income deemed to accrue or arise in India-Royalty-Research work-Neither royalties / fees for technical services-Unless service provider makes available his technical knowledge, experience, skill, know-how or process to recipient of technical service-Not liable to deduct tax at source-DTAA-India-USA. [S. 9(1)(vii), 195, Art. 12]