US Company's Liaison Office in India Not a Permanent Establishment, Income from Abroad Not Taxable in India.

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....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.....