ITAT allowed the taxpayer's appeal in part and directed deletion...

ITAT allowed the taxpayer's appeal in part and directed deletion of the assessment addition treating an administration fee as royalty, concluding the facts and reasoning matched earlier co-ordinate bench determinations and no new material warranted deviation. Regarding subscription fees, ITAT held such receipts for providing access to copyrighted works do not constitute "royalty" under the Act or the India-US DTAA, applying the authoritative SC principle that payments for creation of a right or interest in a copyrighted article's use are not taxable as royalty. The result: administrative fee addition deleted and subscription fee held non-royalty, appeal allowed in favour of the taxpayer.