No. 402/92/2006-MC (28 of 2009)

Government of India / Ministry of Finance

Department of Revenue

Central Board of Direct Taxes

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New Delhi dated 24th November 2009

PRESS RELEASE

The Central Board of Direct Taxes have notified the rules to regulate the procedure of the Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP) constituted under section 144C of the Income Tax Act, 1961 inserted by the Finance Act 2009. The rules come into effect from 20th November 2009. Under the said rules, DRPs will be constituted at eight cities in India, namely Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Pune. The notification is available on the website of the Income Tax department at http://incometaxindia.gov.in

Any foreign company, or any domestic company with transfer pricing issues, in whose case the income-tax assessing officer proposes to make any variation in the income or loss returned, may apply within a month of receiving the draft assessment order before the DRP for appropriate remedy by way of direction to the assessing officer. The direction will be binding on the assessing officer but the taxpayer will be at liberty to appeal against the assessment order incorporating directions of DRP before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT).

The Dispute Resolution Panel will be a collegium comprising of three Commissioners of Income Tax. The mechanism is investor-friendly and is also expected to reduce taxpayer grievance and litigation.

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Dispute Resolution Panel mechanism enables taxpayers to seek binding directions on draft assessments before appeal rights to the tribunal. Notification establishes the Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP) under section 144C to review proposed variations in returned income; eligible taxpayers (notably foreign companies and domestic companies with transfer pricing issues) may apply to the three-member DRP collegium within one month of receiving a draft assessment order for directions to the assessing officer, and the DRP's directions are binding on the assessing officer though the taxpayer may still appeal the assessment order to the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal.