Restricted end-user software licences fall outside royalty provisions, while separately priced installation services alone attract treaty withholding.
Restricted end-user software licences that confer no copyright rights, commercial exploitation rights or authority to modify, sublicense or reproduce software do not constitute royalty under Article 12(3) of the India-USA DTAA. The related software payment therefore carries no withholding-tax obligation or consequential default liability. Under the India-Germany DTAA, consideration for video-conferencing equipment and allied non-service components cannot be treated wholly as fees for technical services. Withholding may be confined to the separately identified installation, setup and training consideration at the applicable treaty rate, with consequential default liability recomputed.
Issues: (i) Whether payment for a restricted end-user software licence constituted royalty under Article 12(3) of the India-USA DTAA, attracting withholding tax; (ii) Whether the entire payment for supply, installation and training of a video-conferencing system constituted fees for technical services under the India-Germany DTAA.
Issue (i): Whether payment for a restricted end-user software licence constituted royalty under Article 12(3) of the India-USA DTAA, attracting withholding tax.
Analysis: Article 12(3) distinguishes consideration for use of, or the right to use, copyright from consideration for use of a copyrighted product. The licence was non-exclusive, non-transferable and non-sublicensable; ownership, copyright and all intellectual-property rights remained with the supplier. The licensee was prohibited from commercial exploitation, modification, sublicensing, reverse engineering, creation of derivative works and unauthorised copying. The arrangement therefore granted only a limited facility to use software internally and did not transfer any right comprised in the copyright.
Conclusion: The software payment was not royalty under Article 12(3) of the India-USA DTAA; no withholding-tax obligation or consequential default liability arose in respect of that payment, in favour of the assessee.
Issue (ii): Whether the entire payment for supply, installation and training of a video-conferencing system constituted fees for technical services under the India-Germany DTAA.
Analysis: The contemporaneous order confirmation established that the predominant consideration was for identified video-conferencing equipment and allied products, rather than for clinical research or independent technical services. Installation, setup and training were separately priced at 890. The record did not sufficiently establish that this separately identified service component was confined to routine installation or operational demonstration. In view of the limited amount and the assessee's acceptance of treaty-rate withholding on that component, the service element was confined to 890 without deciding whether such services would generally constitute fees for technical services.
Conclusion: Treatment of the entire payment as fees for technical services was unsustainable. Consideration for equipment and non-service components must be excluded, and withholding tax may be restricted to 890 for installation, setup and training at the applicable treaty rate, partly in favour of the assessee.
Final Conclusion: The software licence remains outside the royalty provision, while the German transaction is taxable only to the limited extent of the separately identified service consideration; consequential default liability requires recomputation.