Judgements on Transfer Pricing, International Tax and Domestic Tax
Transfer Pricing – Page 2
International Tax – Page 42
Domestic Tax – Page 57
International transactions
Cases 1 to 11
Permanent Establishment
Cases 243 to 256
Income – Cases 321 to 330
Most Appropriate Method
Royalty / Fees for technical services – Cases 257 to 285
Income from Salaries –Cases 331 to 334
– Comparable Uncontrolled Price Method – Cases 12 to 24
Withholding tax – Cases 286 to 294
Income from House Property Case 335
– Cost-Plus Method –Case 25
Capital Gains / Dividend Income – Cases 295 to 301
Business Income –Cases 336 to 349
– Profit Split Method – Cases 26 to 27
Article 8 / Section 44BB / 44D – Cases 302 to 309
Deductions/ Disallowances
– Resale Price Method – Case 28 to 30
Others – Cases 310 to 320
– Section 32 – Cases 350 to 360
– Transactional Net Margin Method – Case 31 to 39
– Section 33AB – Case 361
– Others – Case 40 to 41
– Section 36 – Cases 362 to 365
Comparability – Inter and Intra Industry
– Section 31/ 37(1) – Cases 366 to 396
– Investment Advisory Services – Cases 42 to 45
– Section 40 – Cases 397 to 399
– ITES Sector – Cases 46 to 91
– Section 40A(2)(b) / 40A(3) – Cases 400 to 401
– Support Services – Cases 92 to 100
– Section 43B – Cases 402 to 403
– Others – Cases 101 to 122
– Section 14A – Cases 404 to 415
Computation / Calculations / Adjustments
Cases 123 to 164
– Section 10A / 10AA / 10B – Cases 416 to 420
– Chapter VIA – Cases 421 to 439
Specific Transactions
Income from Capital Gains – Cases 440 to 467
– Advertisement, Marketing and Promotion – Cases 165 to 168
Income from Other Sources – Cases 468 to 470
– Loan / Corporate Guarantee – Cases 169 to 185
Assessment / Re-assessment / Revision / Search Proceedings
– Royalty /Management fees – Cases 186 to 203
– Assessment – Cases 471 to 480
– Share Application money / Investment in share capital – Cases 204 to 207
– Re-assessment – Cases 481 to 517
– Others – Cases 208 to 212
– Revision – Cases 518 to 531
Others
Cases 213 to 242
– Search – Cases 532 to 540
Withholding tax – Cases 541 to 575
Others
– Appeals – Cases 576 to 589
– Charitable Trusts / Exempt Income – Cases 590 to 615
– Clubbing of income – Cases 616
– Deemed Dividend – Cases 617 to 621
– Method of accounting – Cases 622 to 623
– Minimum Alternate Tax – Cases 624 to 631
– Penalty / Interest – Cases 632 to 660
– Refund – Case 661
– Set Off – Cases 662 to 669
– Stay – Cases 670 to 678
– Tax Collected at Source –
Case 679
– Unexplained expenses / income/ investments –
Cases 680 to 686
– Miscellaneous – Cases 687 to 700
I. Transfer Pricing
a. International transactions
1. The Tribunal held that for the purpose of falling under the definition of international transaction, at least one of the parties had to be a non-resident and therefore the purchase of know-how by the assessee, a joint venture between an Indian company (Matrix) and a South African company (Aspen), from the Indiancompany (Matrix) pursuant to an tri-partite agreement between the three aforesaid companies could not be considered as a deemed international transaction since both transacting parties were residents in India and that the contention of the TPO that the transaction was a deemed international transaction on the basis that Aspen being a party to the agreement dictated the terms and conditions of the transaction, was invalid.
Astrix Laboratories Ltd v ACIT – (2016) 67 taxmann.com 28 (Hyd)
2. The Tribunal held that the impugned transaction i.e. the routing of an amount through the AE, which was immediately paid to a third party as an advance for purchase of film rights did not fall within the purview of international transaction under section 92B since the transaction was not between two associated enterprises, but in fact between the assessee and a third party and that too for the acquisition of rights and not as a loan or source of finance. Further, it held that since the transaction did not give rise to any income / benefit to the assessee or the AE, the transfer pricing provisions were not applicable and therefore deleted the addition made by the TPO on account of notional interest on such advances.
KSS Ltd v DCIT – TS-651-ITAT-2015 (Mum) – TP
3. The Tribunal held that R&D Cess and tax paid on technical know-how royalty could not be treated as an international transaction and since royalty payment was at arm’s length price, no disallowance could made by the TPO.
Johnson & Johnson Limited v Add CIT– TS-19-ITAT-2016 (Mum) – TP
4. The Tribunal held that in the absence of an agreement between the Indian entity and foreign AE whereby the Indian entity was obliged to incur AMP expenditure of a certain level for the foreign AE for the purpose of promoting the brand value of its products, no international transaction could be presumed and that mere presence of incidental benefit to the foreign AE would not imply that the AMP expenses incurred by the Indian entity were for promoting the brand of the foreign AE.
Essilor India Pvt Ltd v DCIT – (2016) 68 taxmann.com 311 (Bang – Trib)
5. The Court relying on its earlier decisions in CIT v EKL Appliances and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications India Pvt Ltd v CIT, (wherein it was held that where form and substance of the transaction were the same but the arrangements when viewed in totality differed from those adopted by an independent enterprise behaving in a commercially rational manner), held that the TPO was correct in considering the assessee’s transaction of import of raw materials from an intermediary as a deemed international transaction, where the assessee, as opposed to purchasing the components from the manufacturer (which was an AE), chose to import components from an intermediary (over whom the AE had significant influence) and such imports constituted over 85 percent of all raw materials imported.
Further, it held that even if TNMM was found acceptable as regards all other transactions, it was open to the TPO to segregate a portion and subject it to an entirely different method i.e. CUP if the assessee did not provide satisfactory replies to his queries.
Denso India Ltd v CIT – (2016) 95 CCH 0057 (Del)
6. The Tribunal held that amendment in definition of International transaction u/s 92B, to the extent it pertains to issuance of corporate guarantee being outside scope of ‘international transaction’, could not be said to be retrospective in effect and has to be necessarily treated as effective from at best the assessment year 2013-14. It further held that merely because Legislature described an amendment as ‘clarificatory’ in nature, a call will have to be taken by the judiciary whether it was indeed clarificatory or not.
Siro Clinpharm (P)Ltd & Anr v DCIT – [2016] 46 CCH 0485 Mum Trib
7. The Tribunal held that in the absence of an agreement between the assessee and its AEs for the sharing of AMP expenses, the TPO was incorrect in concluding that the AMP expenses incurred by the assessee were for the benefit of its AEs and accordingly the AMP expenses could not be treated as an international transaction. The Tribunal noted that the very nature of the business of the assessee was such that it had to incur huge expenses for establishing its product in the Indian markets and therefore held that the arguments of the TPO / AO that the AMP expenses were incurred primarily for the benefit of the AEs were without merit. Accordingly, it held that the TPO had wrongly applied the provisions of Chapter X to the AMP expenses of the assessee.
Loreal India Pvt Ltd v DCIT – (2016) 47 CCH 0015 (Mum-Trib)
Heinz India Pvt Ltd v Add CIT – TS-194-ITAT-2016 (Mum) – TP
Goodyear India Ltd v DCIT – TS-226-ITAT-2016 (Del) – TP
8. The Tribunal held that the interest free advances given by the assessee to its overseas subsidiary by incurring expenditure on behalf of the AEs without charging interest or without recovering the said amount, was to be considered as an international transaction under clause (c) of Explanation (i) to section 92B of the Act. The Tribunal further held if the assessee would not have entered into such type of transaction with unrelated parties, then the transaction between the related parties could not be considered at arms’ length. Accordingly, the Tribunal directed the AO / TPO to compute interest on the said advance at the rate of LIBOR + 300 basis points.
Strides Shasun Ltd v ITO – TS-277-ITAT-2016 (Mum) – TP
9. The Tribunal held the assessment order passed was invalid since absent an international transaction with Associated Enterprise (“AE”), normal assessment was to have been completed without making reference to TPO. It rejected the stand of the Revenue that Cummins Turbo USA (majority importer of plates manufactured by assessee) , being able to regulate the price at which goods were sold by the assessee, was a deemed AE u/s 92A(2) of the Act,and held that the pricing between Cummins and the assessee was fixed as per mutual understanding between the two and in case Cummins found an alternate supplier who was offering competitive cost, the assessee was given 30 days’ time to respond to the competitive threat failingwhich a mutually acceptable phase out would be negotiated between the parties and thus it could not be concluded that Cummins controlled the price at which goods were sold by the assessee. It further observed that there was no connection whatsoever by way of participation in management or control or capital by the entities or its subsidiaries (either directly or indirectly) and therefore both the enterprises had not fulfilled the conditions laid down in Sec 92A(1) and were not AEs.
JCIT v Suttati Enterprises(P)Ltd – TS-234-ITAT-2016(PUN)-TP
10. The Tribunal held that in the absence of any direct evidence of incurrence of AMP expenses by the assessee for the benefit of its AE or on behalf of its AE, the AMP expenses could not be treated as an international transaction under section 92B of the Act. It held that probable incidental benefit to the AE would not make the transaction an international transaction. Accordingly, it deleted the addition made by the TPO arrived at by benchmarking the AMP expenses of the assessee with the industry mean AMP expenses to total revenue.
Thomas Cook (India) Ltd v DCIT – TS-307-ITAT-2016 (Mum) – TP
11. The Tribunal, held that the royalty paid by the assessee to Jockey International Inc was not an international transaction and therefore could not be subjected the provisions of Chapter X since Jockey was not an AE of the assessee as per Section 92A of the Act. It held that the assessee was a mere licensee of the brand-name ‘Jockey’ and that there was no participation of JII in the management and capital of the assessee and therefore did not satisfy the conditions of Section 92A(1) of the Act. It further held that both sub-sections viz. 92A(1) and 92A(2) have to be fulfilled together. Accordingly, it deleted the TP addition made by the TPO on account of the royalty paid.
Page Industries Ltd v DCIT – TS-382-ITAT-2016 (Bang) – TP
b. Most Appropriate Method
Comparable Uncontrolled Price Method
12. The Tribunal, relying on the decisions of the Tribunal in the cases of Sumitomo Corporation India Pvt Ltd and Marubeni India P Ltd held that the internal CUP method was the most appropriate method to benchmark the assessee’s commission for provision of indenting services as opposed to the Profit Split Method sought to be applied by the TPO and that where there was no data to support the CUP method, the TNMM method was to be applied. Considering the decisions of the Tribunal in the case of Sumitomo and Bayer Material Science wherein the ALP rate of indenting commission was taken at 2.26 percent and 5 percent, respectively, the Tribunal held that 3.36 percent (the average of the two) was to be considered as ALP.
Johnson Controls (India) Pvt Ltd v DCIT – TS-662-ITAT-2015 (Mum) – TP
13. The Tribunal held that where the arms’ length price of the transactions undertaken by the assesse viz. import of agricultural produce from its AE was justified and accepted by the TPO under the CUP method on the basis of the meanof prices of pulses obtained from a website called agriwatch.com, the TPO, who noted that the method used by the assessee suggested a range of values on a particular date and felt that the website was a good indicator but not a perfect CUP, was incorrect in adopting the arithmetic mean of prices on a day to day basis as the final comparable value and comparing it with the import prices on each day and consequently making a transfer pricing adjustment. It held that where the TPO had himself accepted that generally the price charged by the AEs from the assessee was equal to or less than the ALP, then his act of making an ALP adjustment on the basis of daily arithmetic mean of the transaction values was not permissible under the scheme of the Act.
UE Trade Corporation India Pvt Ltd v ITO – TS-10-ITAT-2016 (Del) – TP
14. The Tribunal deleted the TP adjustment in respect of export of chemicals to AEs on the basis of the CUP method, observing that the assessee was bound to sell the chemicals to its AE at lower prices to recover its manufacturing costs since it was obsolete stock and there was no room for determination of prices based on free interplay of demand and supply.
N L C Nalco India Ltd. vs. DCI – TS-36-ITAT-2016(Kol)-TP
15. The Tribunal held that where assessee company having imported gold bars from its AE, converted same into jewellery and sold same back to AE, since assessee was a simple job worker, CUP was to be regarded as most appropriate method for determining ALP.
Kailash Jewels (P) Ltd vs ITO – [2016] 68 taxmann.com 303 (Delhi-Trib)
16. The Tribunal deleted interest adjustment on external commercial borrowings (ECBs) taken by assessee from overseas AE at 5% as the effective rate of interest paid by assessee on loans taken in India was 6.62% and held that when internal CUP with unrelated parties is availableit should be given precedence over external CUP (which was adopted by TPO).
Intergarden (India)(P)Ltd. vs ACIT – TS-114-ITAT-2016(Bang)-TP
17. The Tribunal held that where TPO proposed adjustment for royalty paid by assessee to its AE even where assessee justified (a) how technical know-how supplied by AE was crucial to running of assessee’s business (b) the same to be at ALP as per TNMM, the addition made by the TPO by applying CUP was not justified since in the instant case, no comparable transaction had been brought on record by revenue.
Frigoglas India (P)Ltd. vs DCIT – [2016] 68 taxmann.com 370 (Delhi-Trib)
18. The Tribunal upheld TPO’s application of CUP to benchmark assessee’s import transaction following Serdia Pharmaceuticals ruling and also allowed 10% quality adjustment as the quality of asseessee’s products (being manufactured in a German plant where quality control requirements are much more stringent than in India) were demonstrably superior to locally manufactured products in India. The Tribunal rejects Revenue’s contention that weighted average rather than simple arithmetic mean should be used to compute ALP of import prices, and held that only domestic prices of the product should have been taken into account and not the export price while benchmarking the import transaction.
Merck Ltd. vs DCIT – TS-143-ITAT-2016(Mum)-TP
19. The Tribunal held that so far as CUP comparability was concerned, differences in the size, geographical location etc. could not be reason enough to discard the comparables, unless it was shown that such factors influenced conditions in the market in which respective parties to the transactions operated.
Further, it held that IBB was a generic chemical product and so far as prices of generic products were concerned, CUP on the basis of database built on inputs like customs data was reasonably acceptable.
SI Group India Ltd v DCIT -TS-150-ITAT-2016(Mum)-TP
20. The Tribunal held that the CUP method was the most appropriate method for determining the ALP of purchase and sale of goods and services since it seeks to compare the exact price charged or paid rather than the profit rate and held that TNMM sought to be applied by the assessee was affected by several factors which would significantly impact the determination of ALP. It further held that the TPO was incorrect in considering the transaction between the AE and a third party in Italy as an internal CUP due to the geographical differences prevalent. It held that the CIT(A) had deleted the addition made by the TPO based on the submission of the assessee without considering the conflicting stand adopted by the TPO and therefore remanded the matter to the file of the TPO.
DCIT v Rayban Sun Optics India Ltd – TS-170-ITAT-2016 (Del) – TP
21. The Tribunal held that the CUP method was the most appropriate method for benchmarking the international transactions of the assessee viz. export and import of agro commodities and upheld the use of third party quotations as an external CUP since the quotations furnished by the assessee were authentic and reliable.Accordingly, it dismissed the contention of the TPO, rejecting CUP on the ground that the data provided by the assessee did not provide support for functional comparability. Reference was also made to the BEPS Action Plans 8-10 in respect to use of Quoted Prices and their authenticity for comparability analysis under the CUP Method.
DCIT v Noble Resources & Trading India Pvt Ltd – TS-269-ITAT-2016 (Del) – TP
22. The Tribunal held that where the assessee had selected the CUP method as the most appropriate method for benchmarking the payment of consultancy fees to its AE, by using the service agreement between the AE and an independent Hungary company as comparable, the AO was not justified in rejecting the CUP method and the comparable without any reasoning and making an ad hoc disallowance of 25 percent of the said consultancy fee on the ground that no evidence had been submitted by the assessee.
ITO v Intertoll ICS India Pvt Ltd – (2016) 47 CCH 0132 (Mum-Trib)
23. The Tribunal held that the CUP method was the most appropriate method for determining the ALP of the assessee’s international transactions viz. provision of man power / human resources to its AEs and rejected the assesee’s application of TNMM. It noted that the assessee had charged both its AEs and Non-AEs for the man power supply on an hourly rate for the same functions and therefore held that the CUP method was most appropriate. However, it rejected the application of an average or weighted average rate as directed by the DRP. Accordingly, it remitted the matter to the file of the TPO.
Taksheel Solutions Ltd v ACIT – TS-352-ITAT-2016 (Hyd) – TP
24. The Tribunal upheld the use of the CUP method over TNMM for the purpose of benchmarking the assessee’s international transaction viz. purchase of DAP fertilizers on consignment basis. It held that where the assessee submitted adequate and reliable information and comparable uncontrolled prices, such as the price list of ‘Fertecon Price Service’ which is a weekly trade journal widely used in the fertilizer industry, for the purposes of benchmarking the international transaction under CUP, the TPOs approach of adopting TNMM was erroneous. It further held that TNMM was not the most appropriate method since the sale price was regulated by the government as a result of which the net profit margin was not under the control of the assessee and that 40 to 45 percent of the receipts of the assessee were by way of subsidy and not from the sale of products.
Mosaic India Pvt Ltd v ACIT – TS-312-ITAT-2016 (Del) – TP
Cost- Plus Method
25. The Tribunal held that the assessee, engaged in the business of manufacture and sale of plastic ophthalmic lenses to its foreign AEs as well as other independent Indian companies, could not be considered as a contract manufacture of its AE since it was carrying out its own independent business activity as well and therefore, the plea of the assessee, relying on GE Medical Systems India Pvt Ltd v DCIT, that the Cost Plus method was the most appropriate method for contract manufacturers, was inapplicable. Accordingly, the TNMM method was used as the most appropriate method.
Further, the Tribunal held that where the cost components of the assessee were in variation with that of comparable companies, the Cost Plus method could not be regarded as the Most Appropriate Method.
Essilor Manufacturing India(P)Ltd. vs. DCIT – [2016] 67 taxmann.com 377 (Bangalore-Trib)
Profit Split Method
26. The Tribunal held that where in respect of revenue derived by assessee company from distribution of television channels and sale of advertisement time, Profit Split Method (PSM) was adopted on basis of detailed analysis and allocation of profits based on the role and functions of the entities vis-a-vis AEs and Non-AEs and the combined net profit had been arrived at by taking into account all transactions of the AE as well as the non-AE and factoring all costs and revenue, the DRP was not justified in concluding that profits from non AE would not be covered under PSM and same had to be determined separately at a higher rate.
Satellite Television Asian Region Ltd v DDIT – [2016] 66 taxmann.com 247 (Mumbai-Trib)
27. The Tribunal held that where RPM was suggested as most appropriate method of ALP computation by the assessee, it is imperative that the products sold by the tested Indian entity were subjected to a close comparison with those products sold by the comparable companies and that before rejecting RPM, the TPO should have made an analysis to determine whether the required data regarding the set of comparable companies dealing in similar products could be obtained from public data basis. Accordingly, the matter was remanded to the file of the AO / TPO.
Kohler India Corp (P)Ltd. vs. DCIT – [2016] 67 taxmann.com 200 (Bangalore-Trib)
Resale Price Method
28. The Tribunal held that the Resale Price Method was the Most Appropriate method for determining ALP with respect to the assessee’s trading and distribution segment, i.e. goods imported from its AE for onward sale, and not TNMM as proposed by the assessee.
It further held that for the certain transactions wherein there was a value addition made to the imported spares by the assessee or where procurement of spares was done through job workers, the determination of Most Appropriate Method would require fresh adjudication and therefore, in respect of such cases, remanded the matter to the TPO.
It was further held that internal comparables were preferred as against external comparables.
Honda Motor India Pvt Ltd v ACIT – (2016) 66 taxmann.com 9 (Del)
29. The Tribunal held that where TPO rejected RPM as MAM for calculating ALP in respect of trading segment, however Commissioner (Appeals) dealt with issue and reproduced relevant data of subsequent year wherein TPO himself had accepted RPM to be MAM for determining ALP for trading segment, findings of Commissioner (Appeals) had to be upheld.
DCIT v Delta Power Solution India (P)Ltd – [2016] 68 taxmann.com 247 (Delhi-Trib)
30. The Tribunal held that the TPO was incorrect in adopting the gross profit margin of the assessee’s Group Company as the ALP for the international transactions entered into by the assessee viz. the import and distribution of Marlboro brand of cigarettes in India as well as export of tobacco leaves, since the Group as a whole (engaged in manufacturing, conducting R&D activities and owning trade marks) was functionally dissimilar to the assessee who was merely engaged in the distribution of these products. Accordingly, it held that the assessee, being a reseller / distributor had rightly benchmarked its transactions using the Resale Price Method.
DCIT v Phillip Morris Services India (SA) India Branch Office – TS-151-ITAT-2016 (Del) – TP
Transactional Net Margin Method
31. The Tribunal held that the TNMM method was the most appropriate method for benchmarking the international transactions of the assessee as opposed to the Cost Plus method applied by the assessee. In the given case, the TPO considered both TNMM and Cost Plus method, but for benchmarking under the Cost Plus Method he used an arbitrary margin of 35 percent and applied it on direct costs. The Tribunal held that there was inadequate discussions of how the 35 percent markup was arrived at and also noted that the markup was applied on direct costs, whereas it was to be applied on both direct and indirect costs. Noting that the TPO had accepted 11 comparable companies under TNMM method as well and the international transaction of the assessee was at arms length price considering these comparable companies, it held that the TNMM method was the most appropriate method.
ITO v Styx Back Office Services Pvt Ltd – (2016) 68 taxmann.com 62 (Del – Trib)
32. The Tribunal held that the selection of the most appropriate method was not an unfettered discretion of the assessee and is subject to adjudication at both the assessment as well as the appellate stage and that determination of the most appropriate method was based on the availability, coverage and reliability of data necessary for the application of the method and therefore where the assessee provided only one comparable under the internal TNMM whereas there was sufficient, relevant, reliable data for comparables under the external TNMM, the method chosen by the assessee viz. Internal TNMM was not the most appropriate method. Further it noted that the one comparable selected by the assessee under internal TNMM was an erstwhile AE of the assessee, which was now of independent status in legal terms as a result of group restructuring and therefore it did not satisfy the reliability test either.
Fortune Infotech Ltd v ACIT – (2016) 66 taxmann.com 92 (Ahd – Trib)
33. The Tribunal held that where the assessee company, engaged in the business of manufacture, assembly and sale of air-conditioning commercial refrigeration equipment, entered into various international transactions with its AE, and adopted an internal comparable of commercial refrigeration segment for justifying the PLI of transport refrigeration segment, TPO without carrying out detailed functional comparability of two segments, could not reject said internal comparable and, make addition to assessee’s ALP on basis of profit margin earned by an external comparable.
Carrier Air conditioning & Refrigeration Ltd v Addl.CIT – [2016] 67 taxmann.com 72 (Delhi-Trib)
34. The Tribunal held that where assessee was unable to furnish reliable data either to adopt Cost Plus Method or to analyse data on basis of CUP method, TNMM would be most appropriate method to analyse assessee’s transactions in order to arrive at ALP
Mercedes Benz Research & Development India (P)Ltd. vs. ACIT – [2016] 68 taxmann.com 230 (Bangalore-Trib)
35. The Tribunal held that in an indirect method like TNMM, a reasonable number of comparables are to be selected to ensure that results are truly representative of segment to which tested party belongs.
GE Healthcare Bio-Sciences Ltd v DDIT [2016] 68 taxmann.com 369 (Chennai-Trib)
36. The Tribunal upheld TPO’s application of TNMM over CPM adopted by assessee during AY 2008-09, as the assessee (a subsidiary of French company) was not undertaking any contract manufacturing or job work activity but was carrying out independent activity of manufacturing ophthalmic lenses by using raw material purchased from AEs & other parties(relying on ITAT decision in GE Medical). It further held that in the absence of any contract between assessee & AEs regarding remuneration & mark up for value addition and there being variations of cost components in respect of manufacturing activity of assessee as well as comparables, CPM was not to be considered as MAM in the assessee’s case.
Essilor Manufacturing India (P)Ltd. vs DCIT – TS-81-ITAT-2016(Bang)-TP
37. The Tribunal held that TNMM and not internal CUP was the MAM to benchmark the assessee’s international transactions of providing portfolio management services, mutual fund services and investment advisory services, since the volume of non-AE transactions sought to be used as internal CUP by the Department was so minimal that the fee in percentage terms vis-à-vis Non-AE transactions would not be comparable to the fee in percentage terms for the AE transactions. It held that since the assets under management for AE transactions were around USD 135 million and that with the Non-AE fund was USD 2.55 million, mere comparison on the basis of fees in percentage terms was not appropriate.
ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd v ACIT – TS-148-ITAT-2016 (Mum) – TP
38. The Tribunal rejected TPO’s selection of CUP as MAM for benchmarking assessee’s export of Floxidin 10% (50ml) product over TNMM, which had been applied by assessee. It noted that TPO accepted TNMM as MAM in respect of 4 out of 5 products exported by assessee but applied CUP as MAM for export of Floxidin 10% (50ml) on the ground that the price charged by the assessee from its AEs was far less than the price charged from the third parties. It observed that that the volume of sale of the impugned product to AE in Thailand was almost 10 times to that of third party in Vietnam and though both countries were members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (‘ASEAN’) , it did not mean that the market conditions in both countries were similar. It opined that where substantial part (more than 80 percent) of the exports made to AEs were accepted by the TPO under TNMM and the assessee had provided due reasoning for the price difference in respect of one product, the TPO was wrong in adopting CUP method as the most appropriate method for benchmarking the remaining transaction.
Intervet India (P) Ltd vs DCIT – [TS-251-ITAT-2016(PUN)-TP]
39. The Tribunal noted that even though there was a loss incurred by the assessee on export of one product (PCMX) to its AE, as evident from Cost Accountant’s Report, the assessee had not taken the same into consideration while working out its PLI (Operating Profit / Total Cost) of 7.96% and therefore the reliability of the segmental financials taken by the assessee to work out the OP/TC of its export with AEs was doubted. Accordingly, the Tribunal held that the OP/TC of the relevant transactions worked out by the assessee, could not be taken as basis for benchmarking the relevant transactions by adopting TNMM and it would be more appropriate to take the OP/TC at the entity level by taking into consideration the entire set of transactions of the assessee. Thus, the Tribunal remitted the matter back to AO / TPO for fresh ALP-determination under TNMM. It held that by considering the entity level PLI, even the import transactions would be benchmarked and therefore no separate benchmarking would be required for the import transactions.
Reckitt Benckiser (India) Ltd v JCIT – TS-269-ITAT-2016 (Kol) – TP
Others
40. The Tribunal deleted the addition made by the TPO in respect of sharing of regional office expenses and for services received by the assessee from its AE since the TPO had neither disputed assessee’s claim that TNMM was MAM nor disputed comparables chosen by assessee and made an ad-hoc addition of 20 percent of the cost sharing and the services received which was not based on a method recognized under the scheme of transfer pricing envisaged by the statute.
Det Norske Veritas v ADIT – (2016) 46 CCH 0542 – Mum Trib
41. The Tribunal deleted TP addition for assessee providing ship management services to parent company (AE) by holding that AO erred not only in resorting to an unscientific and unrecognized method for determining ALP(of computing revenue on the basis of minimum rate per crew member) but also in rejecting bonafide quotations as a valid input for ascertaining ALP; on the basis that no actual transactions had taken place. It held that the quotations could be a valid input under the residuary method set out in Rule 10AB read with Rule 10B(1),(particularly considering the limited scale of operations of assessee and smallness of amount involved); and that not only the actual price of transactions under comparable uncontrolled conditions but also hypothetical price which would have been charged under comparable uncontrolled conditions could be taken into account for computing the arm’s length price.
Gulf Energy Maritime Services (P) Ltd – [TS-74-ITAT-2016(Mum)-TP
c. Comparability– Inter and Intra Industry
Investment Advisory Services
42. The Tribunal held that the assessee, rendering non-binding investment advisory services to its AE could not be compared to a company engaged in providing merchant banking and investment banking services.
TA Associates Advisory Pvt Ltd v DCIT – (2016) 66 taxmann.com 130 (Mum)
43. The Tribunal held that companies engaged in handling of IPOs, underwriting of issues, and carrying on the activity of directly or indirectly managing investments, mutual funds, venture capital funds, pension funds, provident funds etc could not be compared to the assessee who was engaged in providing investment advisory and support services to its AE.
Avenue Asia Advisors Pvt Ltd v DCIT – (2016) 66 taxmann.com 267 (Del)
44. The Tribunal held that a company which is functionally comparable to the assessee, could not be excluded as comparable merely for the reason of low turnover, especially where no turnover filter was applied. Further it held that the assessee, engaged in providing non-binding investment advisory services could not be compared to companies engaged in merchant banking activities.
Tamasek Holdings Advisors India Pvt Ltd v DCIT – (2016) 46 CCH 0175 (Mum – Trib)
45. The Court held that an investment advisor could not be compared to a merchant banker
CIT v General Atlantic (P)Ltd – [2016] 68 taxmann.com 88 (Bombay)
ITES Sector
46. The Tribunal, highlighting the importance of quantitative filters in the selection of comparables in the sector, adopted a minimum turnover filter of Rs. 100 crore, observing that selection of comparables had to be done on the basis of both quantitative and qualitative criteria and that size of companies and relative economies of scale under which they operate have a huge bearing while carrying out comparability analysis.
Further, it included a comparable originally rejected by the TPO on the non-satisfaction of the export to sales filter of 25 percent since the financials clearly demonstrated an export earning filter of 89 percent.
It further excluded Wipro and Infosys as comparable companies on qualitative filters such as presence of huge brand value, intangible R&D activities and the said companies being full-fledged risk bearing entities and held that a qualitative analysis assumes greater significane for selecting comparable companies as opposed to a high turnover filter.
Capgemini India Pvt Ltd v ITO – TS-640-ITAT-2015 (Mum) – TP
47. The Tribunal held that a super profit making company into diversified product development would not be functionally comparable with assessee, a software development service provider.
Hewlett-Packard India Software Opertion (P)Ltd v ACIT – [2016] 67 taxmann.com 371 (Bangalore-Trib)
48. The Tribunal held that in case of assessee company rendering software development services to its AE, company developing its own software products, company rendering KPO services and company owning significant intangibles and earning huge revenue from software products could not be accepted as valid comparables while determining ALP
Teleogic India (P) Ltd vs DCIT – [2016] 67 taxmann.com 159 (Bangalore-Trib)
49. The Tribunal held that a company operating in a different business strategy of acquiring companies for inorganic growth cannot be selected as valid comparable vis-à-vis a company providing ITES services
Amba Research (India) (P)Ltd v DCIT – [2016] 67 taxmann.com 342 (Bangalore-Trib)
50. The Tribunal held that company having revenue from software licensing could not be compared to a company providing software development services.
Hewlett Packard (India) Software Operation (P)Ltd v DCIT – [2016] 67 taxmann.com 309 (Bangalore-Trib)
51. The Tribunal held that a company could not be considered as comparable due to its huge brand value and substantial ownership of intangibles, with a company having ITES segment with much lesser revenue.
Momentive Performance Materials (India) Pvt Ltd v ACIT – (2016) 67 taxmann.com 327 (Bangalore –Trib)
52. The Tribunal held that in case of assessee company rendering IT enabled services (ITES) to its AE, company outsourcing major portion of its work and a company having substantial intangibles could not be accepted as comparables while determining ALP.
Telelogic India (P) Ltd v ACIT – [2016] 68 taxmann.com 165 (Bangalore-Trib)
53. The Tribunal held that in case of assessee company rendering software development services to its AE, a company engaged in research and development activities, a company which was huge in terms of nature of services, number of employees, ownership of branded products, etc and a company which included its revenue even from hardware segment in ‘software devlopment’ segment, could not be accepted as valid comparables while determining ALP.
It further held that in case of assessee company rendering IT enabled services (ITES) to its AE, a company rendering technical services such as software testing, verification and validation of software item and a company rendering ITES services after outsourcing same to third parties, could not be considered as comparables while determining ALP.
Headstrong Services (India) (P) Ltd v DCIT – [2016] 68 taxmann.com 363 (Delhi-Trib)
54. The Tribunal held that companies engaged in activity of medical transcription and portfolio management and providing open and end-to-end web solutions and industry specialized services could not be selected as comparable in case of assessee engaged in software development.
AOL Online India (P) Ltd v DCIT – [2016] 68 taxmann.com 235 (Bangalore-Trib)
55. The Tribunal held that a company which owned significant intangible and had huge revenues from software products was not functionally comparable to a software development service provider. Further, it held that a company operating in different business strategy of acquiring companies for inorganic growth was incomparable to assessee rendering ITE services to its AE.
Logica (P) Ltd v DCIT – [2016] 68 taxmann.com 197 (Bangalore-Trib)
56. The Tribunal held that in case of assessee company rendering IT enabled services (ITES) to its AE, a company in whose case extraordinary event of amalgamation took place or a company rendering KPO services or a company which outsourced major portion of its business activity could not be accepted as comparables while determining ALP
Cummins Turbo Technologies Ltd v DDIT – [2016] 68 taxmann.com 273 (Pune-Trib)
57. The Tribunal held that company engaged in providing animation services for 2D and 3D animation cannot be compared with company providing software development and support service. Further, it held that where nine comparables remained after exclusions, comparable having RPT at 15 percent could also be excluded.
The Tribunal held that assessee can raise additional ground to seek exclusion of a comparable included in assessee’s own TP study when he had not raised such ground before any of lower authorities.
Noveli Software Development (India)(P)Ltd v DCIT – [2016] 68 taxmann.com 201 (Bangalore-Trib)
58. The Tribunal held that Satyam Computer Services Ltd. was rightly excluded by Commissioner (Appeals) on basis of non-reliability of financial data. Further,The Tribunal held that the Commissioner (Appeals) had rightly excluded Infosys and Exensys, on the basis of functional dissimilarity and having extraordinary event during the year. Exensys was having extraordinary profits by way of amalgamation of companies during the year. Infosys was excluded having different functionality of products, having high turnover and brand name.
The Tribunal held that though a company was included by TPO and not objected to by assessee, CIT(A) had wrongly rejected the same on the reason of low profit margin. It further held that only continuous loss making companies were to be excluded from the comparability.
It also held that a product based company was not strictly comparable to a service company like assessee.
ACIT v McAfee Software (India)(P)Ltd – [2016] 68 taxmann.com 293 (Bangalore-Trib)
59. The Tribunal held that a specialised Embedded Software Development Service Provider cannot be compared with any other software development company. Further, it held that Infosys Ltd. cannot be considered as comparable to the assessee company which is a captive unit of its parent company in US and which assumed only limited risk, since Infosys Ltd. is a giant in the area of software development which assumed all risks leading to higher profit.
It also held that L&T Infotech could not be rejected as objected by the assessee company on the ground of high turnover and related party transaction, since the turnover filter was not a relevant criteria in the service industry.
Further, it held that the event of merger itself cannot be a fact for exclusion of a company from the list of comparables where it is not the case of the assessee-company that the amalgamating company is functionally dissimilar.
NTT Data Global Delivery Services Ltd v ACIT – [2016] 69 taxmann.com 7 (Bangalore-Trib)
60. The Tribunal held that the assessee, a captive service provider, engaged in providing software development and allied services to its AEs could not be compared to large companies having huge turnover, companies engaged in the development of software product, companies engaged in the development of niche products and development services, companies engaged in both software development and product development with no segmental break-up, companies rendering KPO services and companies carrying out substantial R&D activities which resulted in the creation of IPRs.
United Online Software Development (India) Pvt Ltd v ITO – (2016) 46 CCH 0509 (Hyd Trib)
61. The Tribunal held that the assessee, a captive service unit, engaged in providing research and development services relating to contract software development maintenance could not be compared with companies such as Infosys, having huge turnover, IP rights and brand value. Further, the Tribunal excluded TCS as a comparable on the ground that it was engaged in providing IT and Consultancy services as well as sale of equipment and software licenses without a segmental break-up along with the fact that it made an acquisition of another company during the year.
Sony Mobile Communications International AB v DDIT – (2016) 46 CCH 0550 (Del – Trib)
62. The Tribunal held that KPO company being quite different in business from the assessee company, which provided only IT enabled services to its AE (which falls in the realm of BPO services); such company could not be considered as comparable. It restored the matter back to the TPO/AO for re-determining the ALP of the international transaction.
Genpact Services LLC (India Branch) v ADIT – [2016] 46 CCH 0458 (Del Trib).
63. With regard to the assessee’s software development segment, the Tribunal excluded 14 comparables on grounds of functional dissimilarity following co-ordinate bench rulings in Broadcom India, NXP Semiconductors India and Capgemini India; However, it refused to apply upper turnover filter of Rs 200cr to eliminate companies noting that assessee’s turnover was Rs 50.20cr, therefore, excluded only Flextronics Software Solutions (having turnover Rs 848cr) and iGate Global Solutions (having turnover Rs 747cr) and retained Mindtree (having turnover Rs 590cr) and Sasken Technologies (having turnover Rs 343cr).
AOL Online India (P) Ltd v DCIT -TS-156-ITAT-2016(Bang)-TP
64. The Tribunal held that the assessee, engaged in the business of providing ITES to its AEs could not be compared with a).companies outsourcing a substantial portion of its work thereby having low employee cost, b).companies who had undergone mergers during the year c).companies operating different business strategies and d). KPO companies.
Cognizant Technology Services Pvt Ltd v DCIT – (2016) 67 taxmann.com 99 (Hyd)
65. The Tribunal held that companies engaged in software development and related support services could not be compared with companies having revenue from both software development and software products and companies engaged in providing 2D and 3D animation services. It further held that huge size of brand value and reputation of a company disqualifies it from being treated as comparable to the assessee, a small captive service provider. The Tribunal further held that where the assessee had not raised an objection to the lower turnover filter, companies could not be eliminated on the basis of an upper turnover filter and that companies could not be rejected merely on the basis of turnover.
JDA Software India Pvt Ltd v ITO – (2016) 66 taxmann.com 327 (Hyd)
Parexel International (India) Pvt Ltd v ACIT – (2016) 66 taxmann.com 150 (Hyd)
66. The Tribunal held that the assessee, providing software development services could not be compared with companies a).engaged in sale and development of software b).having huge turnover in comparison to that of the assessee c).engaged in product development d).having minimal employee cost e).engaged in development of a niche product f).engaged in providing animation services or g).incurring selling and R&D expenses for sale / development of its products.
NTT Data India Enterprises Application Services Pvt Ltd v ACIT – (2016) 67 taxmann.com 88 (Hyd)
67. The Tribunal held that the assessee, rendering software development services to its AE, having a turnover below Rs.10 crore, could not be compared to the following:
• Companies having turnover in excess of Rs.200 crore, as per the decision of the Court in the case of CIT v Pentair Water India Pvt Ltd
• Companies having erratic margins and growth over the years and having a growth in revenue which was not supported by a corresponding growth in expenses.
• Companies engaged in the business of development of Software Products & Services and training.
• Companies having a related party transactions to sales percentage in excess of 15 percent.
Sysarris Software Pvt Ltd v DCIT – (2016) 67 taxmann.com 243 (Bang)
68. The Tribunal held that the assessee, providing IT Enabled services to its AEs was not comparable with companies having undergone substantial business restructuring resulting into extraordinary circumstances during the relevant financial year, companies engaged in providing KPO and LPO services, companies who have developed and own unique web based software by which it provides niche services to its customers, companies having huge brand value and intangibles and companies providing both BPO services and high end technology services not having segmental results.
Further, in relation to the software development services, the Tribunal held that the assessee could not be compared with companies developing their own software products, companies having undergone business restructuring, engaged in both, the sale of services and products but not having segmental break-up and companies failing the related party transactions filter.
Equant Solutions India Pvt Ltd v DCIT – (2016) 66 taxmann.com 192 (Del)
69. The Tribunal held that companies having a turnover in excess of Rs. 200 crore, companies having a software products and hybrid service business model and therefore functionally dissimilar, companies engaged in bi-informatics software products / services and development of bio-technology products, companies actively involved in R&D activities were not comparable to the assessee, engaged in software development services which included network management, technical documentation etc, having a turnover between Rs. 1 crore and Rs. 200 crore.
Further, it held that when TNMM is adopted as the most appropriate method, only net margin of the tested party was to be considered without looking into individual elements of cost since all elements of costs are aggregated irrespective of their classification and composition.
The Tribunal included a comparable wrongly excluded due to erroneous computation of export revenue.
ITO v Infinera India Ltd – (2016) 67 taxmann.com 8 (Bang)
70. The Tribunal held that the assessee, engaged in providing back office support services to its AE without any direct involvement in the conduct of its business, could not be compared with companies having undergone business restructuring / extraordinary financial events and companies providing both BPO services as well as Technical services having no segregation of revenues attributable to the two.
Further, the Tribunal, relying on the decision of the Delhi High Court in Chrys Capital Investment Advisors (India) Pvt Ltd, held that mere high / low turnover or low / high profitability could be no reason to eliminate an otherwise comparable company.
Ameriprise India Pvt Ltd v DCIT – (2016) 66 taxmann.com 246 (Del)
71. The Tribunal held that only those loss making companies incurring losses for three consecutive years and not those companies merely incurring losses only in the relevant year, were to be excluded as comparable while determining the ALP of the international transactions undertaken by the assessee, engaged in providing software development services.
Sungard Solutions (India) Pvt Ltd v ADIT – (2016) 68 taxmann.com 89 (Pune)
72. The Tribunal held that the assesssee, engaged in development of delivery of domain specific software to its AE could not be compared to companies engaged in development of both, software products and software.
Further, considering both conflicting views on the elimination of comparable companies based on turnover, the Tribunal, following favourable view in CIT v Pentair Water India Pvt Ltd, Bombay High Court, held that turnover is a relevant criteria for choosing comparable companies in determination of ALP and excluded companies on the basis of turnover and size.
Obopay Mobile Technology India Pvt Ltd v DCIT – (2016) 66 taxmann.com 119 (Bang)
73. The Tribunal held that the assessee, dealing in global IT solutions, application development and maintenance, application re-engineering and retesting and outsourced software development to its AE, was not comparable to companies engaged only in software services and companies engaged in the business of software products as well as end to end web solutions since they were functionally dissimilar.
Additionally, where a company had been rejected by the TPO on account of extraordinary events during the year, but the assessee submitted that the said company did not undergo a merger but the merger took place in one of the company’s subsidiary companies, the company was to be included as comparable subject to verification of facts.
Kumaran Systems Pvt Ltd v DCIT – (2016) 66 taxmann.com 75 (Chennai – Trib)
74. The Tribunal, following the principle that were two views were available on the issue, the view favourable to the assessee was to be adopted, followed the decision of the Bombay High Court in the case of CIT v Pentair Water India Pvt Ltd and excluded companies based on the turnover filter. Further, it held that the assessee engaged in providing software development services was not functionally comparable with companies engaged in development of niche products. Additionally, companies not satisfying the related party transaction filter of 15 percent were excluded as comparable.
FCG Software Services (India) Pvt Ltd v ITO – TS-18-ITAT-2016 (Bang) – TP
75. The Tribunal held that the assessee, a wholly owned subsidiary of its USA based AE, engaged in providing IT and IT enabled services to its group could not be compared to a).companies not satisfying the service income filter of 75 percent, b).companies engaged in development of product and consultancy, c).companies having a huge brand value and reputation, d).companies specializing in embedded software development and e).companies having a huge turnover.
ADP Pvt Ltd v DCIT – TS-633-ITAT-2015 (Hyd) – TP
Avineon India P Ltd v DCIT – (2016) 46 CCH 0512 (Hyd)
76. The Tribunal held that 100 percent Government owned undertakings, rendering services primarily to the central / state governments could not be considered as comparable to the assessee, since it received preferential treatment in obtaining contracts from the Government, impacting profits and not indicative of a free market economy in which the assessee operated. Further it held that in the absence of segmental results, companies carrying on pre-project activities, procurement assistance, project management / planning, commissioning, inspection, construction and supervision were not comparable to the assessee, a captive service provider, engaged in providing engineering design and related services. It also held that companies undertaking substantial R&D activities (5.41 percent of turnover) were not comparable with the assessee who did not perform the said function.
Bechtel India Pvt Ltd v DCIT – TS-638-ITAT-2015 (Del) – TP
77. The Tribunal held that the assessee company rendering IT enabled servicesto its AE, could not be compared to companies using highly skilled work force for carrying out research and development activities, companies rendering web designing and software testing services and companies in whose case extraordinary event of amalgamation took place during the relevant year, while computing ALP.
ACIT v Tech Book Electronics Sercices (P)Ltd – [2016] 67 taxmann.com 169 (Delhi-Trib)
78. The Tribunal held that the assessee, a software development service provider could not be compared with a software product company. Further, it held that companies operating in the segment of software development services comprising of embedded product design services, industrial design and engineering services, visual computing labs and system integration services, having no break up of sub-services based on which the margin of only the software services activity could be computed, could not be considered as a comparable. Also, companies owning significant intangibles and huge revenues from software products could not be considered as comparable.
It observed that though TNMM obviates necessity for complete product identity or services identity between tested party and comparables and broad functional similarities would suffice, but where functional profile shows that dissimilarity, even within very same segment, is so significant so as to erode comparability, then there is a good case for exclusion.
Citrix R & D India (P)Ltd. vs DCIT – [2016] 68 taxmann.com 42 (Bangalore-Trib)
79. The Tribunal held that the assessee, engaged in the business of design and development of customized software applications could not be compared to companies having revenue from software development, hardware maintenance, information technology, consultancy in the absence of segmental information and companies engaged in software development services along with sale of software products without a break-up between the two.
Further, it held that where a comparable company earned income from a customer pursuant to an agreement entered into between such customer and the comparable company’s parent company, which in the instant case was the AE of the assessee as well, the said transaction of receipt of income would be considered as a deemed international transaction under section 92B and the company could not be considered as comparable since it would no longer be an uncontrolled transaction.
Saxo India Pvt Ltd v ACIT – (2016) 67 taxmann.com 155 (Del – Trib)
80. The Tribunal held that the assessee, providing IT enabled analysis services to its AE was not comparable with companies who had undergone amalgamation during the relevant year.
It further held that where the segmental results of a comparable were available, it was incorrect to exclude a company only for a reason that it was into high end services.
Further, the Tribunal, relying on the decision of the Bombay High Court in the case of CIT v Pentair held that companies having huge turnover were to be excluded as comparable companies and accordingly excluded companies having a turnover in excess of Rs. 200 crore.
Zyme Solutions Pvt Ltd v ITO – TS-65-ITAT-2016 (Bang) – TP
81. The Tribunal held that the assessee’s software development services segment could not be compared to companies engaged in clinical research and manufacture of bio-products, companies into product development, companies having related party transactions to sales in excess of 15 percent, companies owning significant intangibles and having huge revenues from software products without a segmental break-up.
Further, the assessee’s ITES segment could not be compared to companies providing complete business solutions, companies into product development, companies failing the Related Party transactions filter, companies engaged in producing design, drawing and structural engineering drawings, companies outsourcing its work to third parties and companies having huge brand values.
It further, held that high profit margin alone could not be the ground for inclusion or exclusion of a company and the inclusion or exclusion was warranted only if such high profit margin was due to some abnormal circumstances or event.
Ariba Technologies India Pvt Ltd v ITO – (2016) 67 taxmann.com 265 (Bangalore – Trib)
82. The Tribunal held that the assessee company rendering IT enabled services to its AE could not be compared to companies providin