The HC held that the Liaison Office (LO) of the US company...

The HC held that the Liaison Office (LO) of the US company engaged in Money Transfer Services did not constitute a Permanent Establishment (PE) in India under the India-USA DTAA. The activities undertaken by the LO were preparatory or auxiliary in nature as per Article 5(3)(e) of the DTAA. The LO did not meet the criteria for a Fixed Place PE under Article 5(1) or a Dependent Agent PE under Article 5(4). The software deployed merely enabled Indian agents to communicate with US servers and did not create a PE. The premises of independent Indian agents could not be regarded as a PE of the US company. Thus, the income earned from customers outside India was not taxable in India. The HC ruled in favour of the assessee.