Software Support Payments Ruled Non-Taxable Under FIS; Tribunal Finds 'Make Available' Condition Unmet in India-USA DTAA Case.

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

....The assessee received amounts from Indian customers for supplying software updates, patches, and on-call support services. The issue pertained to taxability of these receipts as Fee for Technical Services (FTS)/Fee for Included Services (FIS) under the Income Tax Act and India-USA Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA). The assessee contended that on-call support services cannot be treated as FIS under Article 12(4)(a) of the DTAA, as it is not ancillary to royalty income, or under Article 12(4)(b), as no technical knowledge, know-how, or skill was made available to the service recipient. The Assessing Officer invoked Article 12(4)(b) to tax the receipts, but failed to establish the 'make available' condition through cogent evidence. Th.........