Morgan Stanley has service Permanent Establishment in India: SC

Himachal Government hikes VAT from 4 per cent to 5 per cent on all items, except edible oils and foodgrains Authority for Advance Ruling rules no capital gains accrued or arose at the time of conversion of partnership firm into a private limited company under Part IX of the Companies Act and therefore, notwithstanding the non-compliance with clause (d) of proviso to Section 47(xiii) of the Income Tax Act, by reason of premature transfer of shares, the said company is not liable to pay capital gains tax-AIT-2010-93-AAR Authority for Advance Ruling rules if the purchasers are non-residents other than the applicant, the applicant is liable to pay tax in India on the amount received by it for the support services rendered through the branch office in India-AIT-2010-92 -AAR Jurisdiction of Dispute Resolution Panel-Income Tax Order No.3 Employment of washing process in the manufacture of agglomerates etc from imported plastic waste and scrap-SEZ Instruction No.48 Haryana Government imposes surcharge ranging from 0.25 per cent to 0.7 per cent on VAT Service Tax Notification No. 17/2010 which exempts the taxable service providing packaged or canned software, intended for single use and packed accordingly amended-Service Tax Notification No.18 Procurement, Import and Export of Prohibited and Restricted Goods by SEZ Units-SEZ Instruction No. 47 Tractors are chargeable to tractor cess in terms of the Tractor Cess Rules, 1992 read with the IDRA Act, 1951-Central Excise Circular No. 916 Authority for Advance Ruling rules the amounts received/receivable by Technopromexport from NTPC under contract for Offshore supply of all plant and equipment including mandatory spares are not liable to tax in India under the provisions of the Income-tax Act, 1961 and DTAA between India and Russia-AIT-2010-79-AAR whether Cess levied under section 5 of Textile Committees Act, 1963 is includable as a component of CVD-AIT-2010-78-HC Toilet linen and kitchen linen, of terry toweling or similar terry fabric, of cotton and of other textile materials added in Focus Product Scheme for exports made after 1st Jan 2010-DGFT PN 46 TDS on payment of interest on time deposits under Section 194A of the Income Tax Act by banks following Core-Branch Banking Solutions software-Income Tax Circular No.3 Duty Credit Scrips can also be used / debited towards payment of Customs Duties in case of EO defaults under Authorizations issued under Chapters 4 and 5 of the Policy-DGFT Notification No.32 SC Ruling-the nature of roll over premium charge incurred by the assessee as also the scope and applicability of Section 43A of the Income Tax Act, 1961, in the context of such charges-we find no merit in the contention of the assessee that roll over charges have nothing to do with the fluctuation in the rate of exchange-AIT-2010-75-SC Pre-authentication of excise invoices dispensed with Excise duty on Goggles and OTS cans hiked to 10 per cent av gas and mosquito net impregnated with insecticides subjected to 4 per cent excise Outright exemption from additional duty of customs (of 4%) leviable under sub-section (5) of section 3 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 to goods imported in a pre-packaged form and intended for retail sale Benefit of allowing Cenvat credit to be reversed on proportionate basis (when common inputs are used for the manufacture of dutiable and exempt products) extended retrospectively Bad News for ladies-sanitary napkins & kids diapers subjected to 10 per cent excise excise duty @ 4% imposed on specified IT products like microprocessor other than motherboards, floppy disc drives, CD-Rom drive etc when these items are meant for external use with a computer or laptop as a plug-in device Packaged software or canned software exempted from excise excise duty on Cartons, boxes and cases, of corrugated paper or paperboard manufactured by Standalone manufacturers lowered from 8% to 4%

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Morgan Stanley has service Permanent Establishment in India: SC

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NEW DELHI. Vide a landmark ruling AIT-2007-246-SC dated 9^th July affecting tax liability of MNCs and BPOs; SC has ruled that the Authority for Advance Ruling was right in ruling that Morgan Stanley Advantages Services Pvt. Ltd would be a service Permanent Establishment in India.

According to Mr. Samir Gandhi, Top Transfer Pricing Expert & Partner of Deloitte Haskins & Sells, Taxation of outsourcing units including the determination of "arm's length price" has become contentious in the recent past at India. This critically depends on functions performed, assets deployed and risks assumed. It is imperative to appreciate the economics of the 'outsourced services' for resolving the intricate tax issues peculiar to outsourcing".

"Outsourcing represents a great opportunity for India. It is therefore necessary that tax issues and concerns are addressed promptly to facilitate the smooth flow of business. One can consider remove uncertainties in the positions and approaches and introduce "safe harbour" provisions (e.g. Australia & Mexico) for ensuring certainty and avoiding controversies & litigation. "It will be of assistance if the CBDT also issues administrative rulings on certain aspects and nuances".

adds Mr. Samir Gandhi.

SC has ruled as under:

To conclude, we hold that the AAR was right in ruling that MSAS would be a Service PE in India under Article 5(2)(1), though only on account of the services to be performed by the deputationists deployed by MSCo and not on account of stewardship activities. As regards income attributable to the PE (MSAS) we hold that the Transactional Net Margin Method was the appropriate method for determination of the arm's length price in respect of transaction between MSCo and MSAS. We accept as correct the computation of the remuneration based on cost plus mark-up worked out at 29% on the operating costs of MSAS. This position is also accepted by the Assessing Officer in his order dated 29.12.2006 (after the impugned ruling) and also by the transfer pricing officer vide order dated 22.9.06. As regards attribution of further profits to the PE of MSCo where the transaction between the two are held to be at arm's length, we hold that the ruling is correct in principle provided that an associated enterprise (that also constitutes a PE) is remunerated on arm's length basis taking into account all the risk-taking functions of the multinational enterprise. In such a case nothing further would be left to attribute to the PE. The situation would be different if the transfer pricing analysis does not adequately reflect the functions performed and the risks assumed by the enterprise. In such a case, there would be need to attribute profits to the PE for those functions/risks that have not been considered. The entire exercise ultimately is to ascertain whether the service charges payable or paid to the service provider (MSAS in this case) fully represents the value of the profit attributable to his service. In this connection, the Department has also to examine whether the PE has obtained services from the multinational enterprise at lower than the arm's length cost? Therefore, the Department has to determine income, expense or cost allocations having regard to arm's length prices to decide the applicability of the transfer pricing regulations. Economic nexus is an important aspect of the principle of Attribution of Profits.
In the light of what is stated above, the impugned ruling by AAR stands modified to the extent indicated hereinabove. Accordingly, both the civil appeals filed by the applicant (MSCo) and by the Department are partly allowed with no order as to costs.

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