Levy of Penalty under section 271G by Transfer Pricing Officers

    The existing provisions of section 271G of the Act provide that if any person who has entered into an international transaction or specified domestic transaction fails to furnish any such document or information as required by sub-section (3) of section 92D, then such person shall be liable to a penalty which may be levied by the Assessing Officer or the Commissioner (Appeals).

     Section 92CA provides that an Assessing Officer may make reference to a Transfer Pricing Officer (TPO) for determination of arm's length price (ALP). TPO has been defined in the said section to mean a Joint Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner or Assistant Commissioner who is authorised by the Board to perform all or any of the functions of an Assessing Officer specified in sections 92C and 92D. The determination of arm’s length price in several cases is done by the TPO.

     It is, therefore, proposed to amend section 271G of the Act to include TPO, as referred to in Section 92CA, as an authority competent to levy the penalty under section 271G in addition to the Assessing Officer and the Commissioner (Appeals).

     This amendment will take effect from 1^st October, 2014.

[Clause 67]

Penalty authority for transfer pricing documents expanded to include Transfer Pricing Officers, altering levy jurisdiction. The Finance (No. 2) Bill, 2014 proposes amending section 271G to add the Transfer Pricing Officer, as defined in section 92CA, to the authorities competent to levy the penalty under section 271G where a person entering into an international or specified domestic transaction fails to furnish documents or information required by subsection (3) of section 92D; this amendment takes effect from 1st October, 2014.