2025 (1) TMI 1279
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....round No.1 Ground No.1 Ground No.1 Initiation of reassessment proceedings Ground No.2 Provision of distance learning courses Ground No.2 Ground No.3 Ground No.2 Sale of physical publications Ground No.3 Ground No.4 Ground No.6 Provision of advertising space Ground No.4 Ground No.5 Ground No.3 Data base access facility Ground No.5 Ground No.6 Ground No.5 Survey charges Ground No.6 Ground No.4 Joining & annual fees collected towards IATA clearing house facility and data processing charges Ground No.7 Ground No.7 Ground No.7 Non-grant of credit for self assessment tax Ground No.8 Short grant of TDS credit Ground No.9 Interest under section 234A Ground No.8 Ground No.8 Ground No.10 Initiation of penalty Ground No.9 Ground No.9 Ground No.11 2. The assessee is a corporation incorporated under the Special Act of Parliament of Canada and is a tax resident of Canada. The assessee holds a valid tax residency certificate. It is stated that it is a non-profit organization carrying out its activity for the b....
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....nternational Cargo Agent Training Program, the International Travel and Tourism Training Program, etc. These courses are available to students who aspire to have a career in the aviation industry. The students who are interested in undertaking any of the distance learning courses can register/ enrol directly with the assessee or with an authorized Training Centre ('ATC'). For the provision of the distance learning courses, Assessee receives enrolment fees from students/ATCs. Such fees have been paid for course material/ training kit fees, shipping fees, exam fees which is conducted by a third party in India, fees for issuance of certificates on successful completion of the courses. The AO / DRP held that the ATCs are agents of the assessee and therefore the amount received by the assessee towards distance learning courses are taxable in India as per the provisions of Article 5(4) and 5(5) of India - Canada DTAA. 4. The ld AR submitted that the Authorised Training Centres (ATC) have been wrongly considered as agents of the assessee without appreciating the fact that the activities of the ATCs i.e. registration and training of students was carried out by them in their ordi....
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....aft assessment order passed u/s 143(3) r.w.s 144C(1), dated 27.03.2015 had attributed the entire revenue of USD 2,390,825/- i.e Rs. 12,12,38,736/- from provision of distance learning courses as the income of the ATC"s, but the DRP had scaled down the attribution of such income to 40% of the revenue so generated. For a fair appreciation of the issue under consideration we shall briefly cull out the fact pattern as regards the provision of the distance education courses of the assessee by the ATC"s in India. As is discernible from the records, we find that the assessee viz. IATA, Canada allowed students to avail various distance learning courses pertaining to aviation sector, viz. IATA Proprietary Training Programs, International Aviation Training Program, International Cargo Agent Training Program, International Travel and Tourism Training Program etc., for which the interested students could either directly register/enrol on the website of the assessee or approach an ATC. The assessee during the year under consideration had 59 ATC"s in India. On a perusal of the records, we find that the ATC"s for carrying out training and being able to provide the assessee's courses in their sylla....
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.... Similar is the position in the case of another ATC, viz. Kuoni Academy, which as can be gathered from the screen shots, Page 69-70 of "APB", was also providing multiple courses, viz. International Master in Business Administration & Tourism Management, Kuoni Certified Advanced Course in Travel Management, Kuoni Certified Advanced Course in Travel & Tourism Management, Kuoni Certified Abacus Operator-Level-1, Kuoni Certified Program in Tour Guiding Skills, IATA Foundation, Kuoni Certified Program in Travel Agency Operations-IOTAA, IATA Consultant, Kuoni Certified Galileo Operator-Level-1, Kuoni Certified Galileo Specialist- Level 1 & 2, Kuoni Certified Abacus SpecialistLevel 1 & 2, Kuoni Certified Tour Manager Program, Kuoni Certified Air Ticketing Specialist, Kuoni Certified Program in Airport Customer Services, Kuoni Certified Program in Visa Facilitation etc. Also, our attention was drawn towards the financial statements of another ATC viz. Thomas Cook India Pvt. Ltd, as available in the public domain. On a perusal of the financial statements of Thomas Cook India Pvt. Ltd., we find that the primary source of revenue of the said party was by way of commission received from travel....
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....es of the assessee constituted the backbone of such training and the overall operations of the ATC"s, they were thus rightly held by the A.O as DAPE of the assessee. Apart from that, the DRP in order to fortify his aforesaid conviction had drawn support from the fact that the ATC"s were recognised and approved by the assessee, and for providing training to the students were mandatorily required to be registered with the assessee. Also, it was observed by the DRP that the training could be provided by the ATC"s to the students only after they had purchased the necessary study material from the assessee, i.e either directly by online payment or indirectly through sales by ATC"s. In the backdrop of its aforesaid observations, the DRP was of the view that the projection of the relationship of the assessee and the ATC"s as that of principal to principal basis was a farce. For so concluding, the DRP was of the view that though the students enrolled by the ATC"s were apparently the customers of the ATC"s on their own account and for their own benefit, but the moment the student enrolled for the training, the subscription of the assessee for the training material was secured and the charge....
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....n provided viz. (i). its activities are devoted wholly or almost wholly on behalf of that enterprise; AND (ii). the transactions inter se the agent and the enterprise are not made under arm's length conditions. For the sake of clarity, we herein reproduce Article 5(5) of the India-Canada tax treat, which reads as under: "5. An enterprise of a Contracting State shall not be deemed to have a permanent establishment in the other Contracting State merely because it carries on business in that other State through a broker, general commission agent, or any other agent of an independent status, provided that such persons are acting in the ordinary course of their business. However, when the activities of such an agent are devoted wholly or almost wholly on behalf of that enterprise and the transactions between the agent and the enterprise are not made under arm's length conditions, he shall not be considered an agent of independent status within the meaning of this paragraph." As such, an enterprise carrying on business in the other contracting state through a broker, general commission agent or any other agent of an independent status, or merely maintaining in that othe....
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...., and the said observation has not been assailed by the revenue before us. Without prejudice to the fact that the activities of the ATC"s were not devoted wholly or almost wholly on behalf of the assessee, viz. IATA, Canada, in the absence of any observation by the lower authorities that the transactions between the assessee and the ATC"s were not made under arm's length conditions, would therein result to an absence of a cumulative satisfaction of the aforesaid two fold conditions prescribed in Article 5(5) of the tax treaty for divesting the ATC"s of their status as that of an independent agent. In sum and substance, as the assessee viz. IATA, Canada, was carrying on its business in India through ATC"s which were independent organizations doing their business of providing training to students to enable them to work in aviation, travel and tourism industry, therefore, the assessee de hors any such observation recorded by the lower authorities that the transactions between the assessee and the ATC"s were not made under arm's length conditions, cannot be held to have a PE in India within the meaning of Article 5(5) of the India-Canada tax treaty. Our aforesaid view that in the absen....
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....ecause Article 5(5), which overrides the provisions of Article 5(1) and 5(2), specifically provides that "where a person other than an agent of an independent status to whom paragraph 6 applies (emphasis by underlining supplied by us) is acting in one of the Contracting States on behalf of an enterprise of the other Contracting State, that enterprise shall be deemed to have a permanent establishment in the first-mentioned Contracting State" subject to fulfillment of certain other conditions which are admittedly fulfilled in the present case. Therefore, as long as the agent is of independent status, the provisions of Article 5(5) cannot be invoked. It is also important to bear in mind that since provisions of Article 5(5) override the provisions of Article 5(1) and 5(2), no permanent establishment under article 5(1) and (2) can be said to come into existence, so far agency situations are concerned, until the conditions of Article 5(5) are also satisfied. Learned Departmental Representative fairly does not dispute, and rightly so, that the permanent establishment in the present case will be governed by Article 5(5) read with Article 5(6). Learned Departmental Representative's only ob....
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.... Trust's case, the observations made therein do not apply in this context as it was not dealing with Dependent Agency Permanent Establishment (DAPE) which is now the case before us. As we have seen earlier, the provisions of DAPE override the provisions regarding fixed place PE, and, therefore, any observations made in the context of fixed place PE do not apply to the DAPE situations. As regards the reference to the OECD Model Convention commentaries or other standard literature in the context of DAPE, it cannot be of any help in interpretation of DAPE provisions in Indo French DTAA because of a somewhat peculiar provision in Article 5(5) read with Article 5(6), which is not part of OECD or UN Model Convention, and which provides that "However, when the activities of such an agent are devoted wholly or almost wholly on behalf of that enterprise, he will not be considered an agent of an independent status within the meaning of this paragraph if it is shown that the transactions between the agent and the enterprise were not made under at arm's length conditions.". We have also noted that the DRP has held that there is a PE on the short ground that assessee's claim for applicability o....
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....ility of Article 5(5) read with Article 5(6). The combined effect of this fair suggestion and concession is that firstly notwithstanding anything contained in Article 5(1) and (2) whether a person other than the agent of Indian State to whom paragraph 6 of Article 5 applies is acting in one of the Contracting States on behalf of an enterprise of other Contracting State, that enterprise shall deemed to have been a permanent establishment in the first mentioned Contracting State. That is also provided he exercises habitually an authority to conclude contracts on behalf of the enterprise and his activities are not relevant to purchase of goods or merchandise for the enterprise. He may also be having no such authority, but if he maintains habitually in the first mentioned Contracting State a stock of goods or merchandise from which he regularly delivers goods or merchandise on behalf of the enterprise, then, the business of an enterprise is wholly or partly carried out within the meaning of Article 5(5) and the said enterprise has a permanent establishment in India. Insofar as Article 5(5) and para 6 is concerned, there is a deeming fiction, and by virtue of that, the enterpri....
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....ecause there was no finding rendered by the Assessing Officer. The Tribunal as rightly held was not obliged to go into the same. Even on this ground the Tribunal's order cannot be faulted." At this stage, we may herein observe that as in the present case before us, in the case of Delmas France (supra) also there was no finding of the lower authorities that the transactions between the principal and agent were done in arm's length conditions. Under such circumstances, the Tribunal relying on the order of the "Special bench" of the Tribunal in the case of Motorola Inc. Vs. Dy. CIT(2005) 95 ITD 269 (Del)(SB), had held, that the onus was on the Revenue to demonstrate that a PE of the foreign enterprise exists in India. In its aforesaid order it was observed by the Tribunal, that in the case before them, the onus was even greater inasmuch the very foundation of DAPE did rest on a negative finding with respect to the wholly dependent or almost wholly dependent agent i.e. "if it is shown that the transactions between the agent and the enterprise were not made under arm's length conditions". As such, in the absence of any such negative finding being available on record, it was....
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....e viz. IATA, Canada, within the meaning of Article 5(5) of the India-Canada tax treaty. Accordingly, without adverting to the other contentions advanced by the ld. A.R in order to impress upon us that the ATC"s cannot be held to be the DAPE of the assessee viz. IATA, Canada, we vacate the view taken by the A.O/DRP holding to the contrary. As we have held that the ATC"s are not the DAPE of the assessee, therefore, the addition of Rs. 4,84,95,494/- i.e 40% of the revenue generated from sale of distance learning material, attributed to them in their status as that of DAPE of the assessee corporation, viz. IATA, Canada, and assessed as the business income of the assessee in India under Article 7 of the India-Canada tax treaty cannot be sustained and is therefore vacated. 14. We shall now deal with the claim of the assessee that the DRP had erred in concluding that the income received by the assessee on sale of distance learning courses is alternatively taxable as royalty, both under the Act and the India- Canada tax treaty. On a perusal of the DRP order, we find, that it was therein observed that as the assessee by providing training material to the students was providing know....
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....s not involve transfer of intellectual property, and also does not contain any undivulged technical information which is not available in the public domain and/or knowhow, therefore, it falls outside the scope of the term "information concerning technical, industrial, commercial or scientific experience" under Article 12(3) of the India-Canada tax treaty. In sum and substance, as the consideration received by the assessee is towards a simplicitor sale of training material/books, thus, the same cannot be brought within the definition of "royalty" under Article 12(3) of the India-Canada tax treaty. Our aforesaid view that the consideration received for providing the study material to the students in distance learning courses cannot be held as "royalty" is fortified by the order of the ITAT, Delhi in the case of Hughes Escort Communication Ltd. Vs. Dy. CIT (2012) 31 CCH 128 (Del), wherein it was observed as under: "8.12. On a careful perusal of the above it is seen that the nature of payment made to eCornell is not 'royalty' as the payment is not for the use or the right to use any copy right or literary work. The fact that it is not for artistic, scientific work, wor....
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.... publications/ manuals could be purchased online by the airlines or any other customer who is involved in the business of transportation of cargo. The DGR publications/manuals published by Assessee is based on the Instruction on Dangerous good developed by International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO'), a United Nations agency for international air transport. The DGR publications/ manuals deal with the transportation of dangerous goods by air, provided comprehensively to assist customers in handling and transportation of dangerous goods. Thus, the DGR publications/ manuals are essentially a user-friendly reference publication/ manual in relation to shipping and transport of the dangerous goods around the world by air, based on the Instruction developed by the ICAO. The customers place the order for purchase of the DGR publications/ manuals on the website of IATA. These publications/ manuals are then dispatched directly to customers, and the ownership of such publications passes to the customers outside India. The AO/DRP held the revenue from sale of publications as Royalty in the hands of the assessee. 9. The ld AR submitted that the DGR manuals published by the assessee ....
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....mmercial or scientific experience" as provided in Article 12(3) of the India-Canada tax treaty. Our aforesaid view is fortified on a perusal of the contents of the DGR manual in the backdrop of the "Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air" published by ICAO. On a perusal of the definition of "royalty" as provided in Article 12(3) of the India- Canada tax treaty, we find that the same comprises of consideration received for the "use" or the "right to use" the following: * plan, secret formula or process; or * Information concerning industrial, commercial or scientific experience; or * Any industrial, commercial, or scientific equipment. We find substance in the claim of the assessee that the consideration received on sale of DGR manuals could not be characterised as "royalty" within the meaning of Article 12(3) of the India-Canada tax treaty, for the following reasons: * The publications were outright sales to the customers, and no "use" or "right to use" any copyright in relation to the publication was granted to the customer; * The customers did not get vested with any right to reproduce/sell the....
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....because an entry of the commercial nature would not make it a royalty. That cannot be the exclusive base or foundation. Some sort of expertise of skill is required. The aforesaid factor would be the requisite one. We are not inclined to accept the submission of Mr. Arya that every information if it concerns the industries or commercial venture would be a royalty. That would tantamount to state the law quite broadly. That does not seem to be the purpose of the statute or that of the treaty." Also, as the sale of the DGR manuals tantamount to a simplicitor sale of a copyrighted article with no vesting of any copyright of the same with the customer, the consideration therein received by the assessee cannot be attributed to the "use" or the "right to use" the copyright itself, and thus, on the said count also cannot be brought within the realm of the definition of "royalty" as provided in Article 12(3) of the India-Canada tax treaty. Our aforesaid view is fortified by the judgment of the Hon'ble High Court of Delhi in the case of DIT Vs. Infrasoft Ltd. (2014) 220 Taxman 273 (Del). In the backdrop of our aforesaid observations we vacate the view taken by the lower authorities t....
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.... that was located outside India, or in its publications/manuals that were published by it outside India. The provision of the advertisement space in both the website and the publications was managed by the assessee from outside India, and the consideration for rendering such services was also received directly in a bank account outside India. In order to buttress the aforesaid factual position the ld. A.R had drawn our attention to Page 12 & 13 of the additional evidence that has been filed before us. Being of the view, that by advertising on the assessee's website and publications/manuals the customers were using the logo, brand and goodwill of the assessee, the A.O/DRP concluded that the consideration therein received was liable to be taxed as "royalty" in its hands. 19. Assailing the aforesaid view so taken by the lower authorities, the assessee has carried the matter in appeal before us. We have heard at length the authorised representatives for both the parties in context of the issue under consideration, perused the orders of the lower authorities and the material available on record, as well as the judicial pronouncements relied upon by them to drive home their resp....
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.... by Yahoo Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd. to assessee company. Uploading and display of banner advertisement on its portal was entirely the responsibility of Yahoo Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd. and assessee company was only required to provide the banner Ad to Yahoo Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd. for uploading the same on its portal. Assessee thus had no right to access the portal of Yahoo Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd. and there is nothing to show any positive act of utilization or employment of the portal of Yahoo Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd. by the assessee company. Having regard to all these facts of the case and keeping in view the decision of the Authority of Advance Rulings in the case of ISRO Satellite Centre (supra) and Dell International Services India (P) Ltd. (supra), we are of the view that the payment made by assessee to Yahoo Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd. for the services rendered for uploading and display of the banner advertisement of the Department of Tourism of India on its portal was not in the nature of royalty but the same was in the nature of business profit and in the absence of any PE of Yahoo Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd. in India, it was not chargeable to tax in India." As obs....
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.... comprise of publicly available data for e.g.: IATA Rates of Exchange (IROE)/ passenger tariffs etc. which is collated, stored and displayed in an organized manner by Assessee. For accessing the databases, a request is placed by an Indian customer by logging on Assessee's website. Pursuant thereto, the customer is required to submit an online form and the necessary subscription fee by credit card/ bank transfer. These databases are maintained by Assessee outside India. Further, the subscription fee for accessing these databases is also received by Assessee in its bank account outside India. However the AO/DRP held that the information shared by the assessee are copyrighted information and therefore the amount received towards data base access facility should be treated as Royalty to be taxed in India. 16. The ld AR submitted that the assessee through data base access is facilitating the access to otherwise publicly available information in one place to the Airlines, customers etc. The ld AR further submitted that by providing the data access the assessee is not imparting any information concerning the technical, industrial, commercial or scientific experience or "use" or the....
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....e contract is entered into between Assessee, Air India and mind-set SA. As per the tripartite service contract, the services are provided by Assessee and mind- set SA jointly and each party assumes responsibility for its acts and omissions and neither party has the authority to make commitments, enter into contracts on behalf of the other, bind or obligate the other in any manner whatsoever. Pursuant to the contract, the passenger satisfaction surveys are jointly conducted by Assessee and m1nd-set SA to obtain the views/ opinions of passengers travelling in business and economy class of Air India. Vide the said surveys, the passengers share their views/ opinions in relation to various services provided by Air India, inter-alia, including reservations and check-in procedures, in- flight services, baggage delivery etc. of Air India. The service of conducting the passenger satisfaction survey inter-alia includes preparing the sampling plan for the survey, distributing courtesy cards to passengers travelling by Air India's flights originating outside India which contains the website details required to participate in the survey and collating the responses provided by the passengers....
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....ted that M1nd-setSA is providing services to Air India as an independent entity and therefore the relationship between the assessee and M1nd-setSA is on principal to principal basis. From the perusal of the findings of the lower authorities we notice that the only reason for holding M1nd-setSA as DAPE of the assessee is that the source of income from survey services provided to Air India is arising majorly from India and in this regard we notice that the revenue has not brought any material on record in support of such a claim. Further from the perusal of the terms of the tripartite agreement between the assessee, M1nd-setSA and Air India we notice that the service responsibilities of M1nd-setSA has no dependency on the assessee and has to be met independently by M1nd-setSA. Therefore there is merit in the submission of the ld AR that M1nd-setSA cannot be treated as an agent of the assessee. Further it is submitted that the conditions laid down under Article 5(4) and 5(5) of the DTAA between India and Canada to hold M1nd-setSA as DAPE of the assessee are not met as in the case of ATCs. For ease of reference the said clauses are reproduced as under 4. Notwithstanding the pr....
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....ger satisfaction survey by holding Mind-set SA as DAPE of the assessee is not tenable and liable to be deleted. Joining & annual fees collected towards IATA clearing house facility (ICH facility) and data processing charges - Ground No.7 23. Facts pertaining to the issue is that the ICH facility enables the world's airlines and industry suppliers to settle their passenger, cargo and miscellaneous/ non-transportation billings. ICH facility provided by Assessee involves facilitation for raising of the invoices, netting-off of payables and receivables, providing transaction details report to the airlines and industry suppliers. The said ICH facility enables the airlines and SPs to settle their billings/ dues securely and efficiently, thereby, reducing their exposure to losses arising on account of foreign currency fluctuation. The Assessee receives joining and annual membership fees from various Strategic Partners who form strategic partnership with Assessee and membership fee is collected from airlines also. The assessee contended before the lower authorities that the income arising from ICH facility and annual membership are not taxable in India for the reason that - ....
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....aph no.7 has considered all the issues and in paragraph no.7.4 has held that assessee qualifies as mutual concern having regard to the tests laid down by various courts. In view of the above finding of the learned Dispute Resolution Panel, which is not under challenge, there is no need for us to express any opinion on this aspect as revenue itself has accepted that assessee is a mutual concern." It is also brought to our attention that the AO himself in the case of branches for AY 2012-13 has followed the findings of the DRP in AY 2014-15 and held membership fees as not taxable. 25. We heard the parties and perused the material on record. ICH facility is provided by the assessee enables the airlines to settle this billing / dues securely and efficiently thereby redirecting their exposure to Forex fluctuations. The assessee contended that the services are directly rendered outside India and therefore the charges cannot be treated as business income in the hands of the assessee since the assessee does not have a PE in India. Similarly the assessee submitted that if the Indian Branches of the assessee are treated as PE, then surplus arising from membership fees collected for the....
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....revenues for various AYs by IATA India branch to its members submitted by the assessee, we are of the opinion that the assessee satisfies the abovementioned conditions of 'mutual concern' as laid down by various courts as under: (i) Complete identity between the contributors and the participants to the common fund The contributions (in the form of joining and annual fees, data processing charges etc) received from the airlines and agents are utilised by the assessee for providing the billing and settlement related services only to such airlines and agents. In case the contribution from the airlines and agents falls short of the expenses, the airlines contribute funds to make up for the shortfall. Similarly, in case the contribution is in excess of the expenses incurred by the assessee, such surplus contribution is either utilized against the cost to be incurred by the assessee in the subsequent years or is refunded back to the members. In support of the above contention, the assessee has submitted a detailed statement evidencing the surplus which has arisen to the assessee for various AYs, the utilization and refund of such surplus in the subseque....
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.... Hence, in our opinion, we agree with the assessee that there is complete identity between the contributors and the participants (i.e. the airlines and agents) to the contributions (i.e. common fund) received by the assessee. (ii) Instrumentality of the assessee in carrying out the mandates of its members Le. organisation must be set up for achieving a common objective of the members As is evident from a perusal of the submissions filed by the assessee alongwith a copy of the RBI approval, the assessee has been established only for the purpose of providing billing and settlement related services to the airlines and agents on a non-commercial and not for profit basis. The relevant extract of the RBI approval is reproduced below: "3. In view of what has been stated in your above correspondence and govt.'s letters referred to above we hereby grants you permission under Section 29(1)(a) of Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 for establishing a branch office at Bombay for the purpose of undertaking the following non-commercial activities on a no-profit basis: i. Representing the world's scheduled Airlines, travel agents, etc. ii. ....
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....st is also satisfied by the assessee. 7.4 Having regard to the above, we are of the considered opinion that the assessee qualifies as a 'mutual concern' having regard to the tests laid down by various courts. 7.5 Further, having regard to the approval of the RBI which requires the assessee to undertake the BSP related activities on a non-commercial and not-for- profit basis, we are of the opinion that the provisions of Section 28(iii) of the Act would not be applicable in the instant case as the assessee does not derive any income from rendering any specific services or on a commercial basis. Also, the case laws relied upon by the AO are also distinguishable from facts of the assessee" 26. We notice that the AO while considering this issue for AY 2012-13 in the case India Branches has relied the order of DRP for AY 2014-15 and held the ICH facility fees and annual membership fees are not taxable in India. Further we notice that the Co-ordinate Bench in Assessee's own case for AY 2012-13 has consider the above directions of DRP and held that the impugned amounts are not taxable in India (refer the observations of the Co-ordinate Bench in this regard are ....
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.... the charges for provision of Data Processing. We further notice that the AO/DRP have relied on their own order of AY 2012-13 in this regard. On perusal of nature of charges, we are of the view that Data Processing charges are received towards services to airlines and agents using iiNet and weblink and therefore are similar to ICH facility fees. We have already held that the ICH facility fees is not taxable in India for the reason that the principle of mutuality is applicable as has been held by the Co-ordinate Bench in assessee's own case for AY 2012-13. Therefore, applying the same ratio, we hold that the data processing charges which are similar in nature cannot also be taxed as income in India as attributable to Indian branches. 29. Ground No.1 is general. Ground No. 8 & 9 raised by the assessee pertain to levy of interest and penalty. These grounds being consequential do not warrant separate adjudication. 30. In result, the appeal of the assessee for AY 2016-17 is allowed. ITA No. 7072/Mum/2012 - AY - 2011-12 31. We have tabulated the issues contended by the assessee through various grounds for AY 2011-12, in the earlier part of this order. From the perusal of the ....
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