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2017 (4) TMI 459 - AT - Income TaxTDS u/s 195 - fee for Technical services(FTS) - non deduction of tax at source - Indo-Thailand DTAA - PE situated in India - assessee in default - Held that:- The remittances in question are in the nature of fees for technical services in the hands of Thai entities, the income embedded in these remittances is not taxable in India in the hands of these entities, in terms of the provisions of Indo Thai tax treaty. The plea of the Assessing Officer, for invoking the domestic law provisions in respect of fees for technical services, as the Indo Thai tax treaty does not specifically deal with the same, already stands negated in the case of Bangkok Glass Industries (2015 (4) TMI 503 - MADRAS HIGH COURT ), in the context of Indo Thai tax treaty itself. It is only elementary that under article 90(2) where the Government has entered into a tax treaty with any tax jurisdiction, in relation to the assessee to whom such treaty applies, “the provisions of this (i.e. Income Tax) Act shall apply to the extent they are more beneficial to that assessee”. While on this issue, we may also take note of the landmark Special Bench decision in the case of Motorola Inc. vs. Dy. CIT [2005 (6) TMI 226 - ITAT DELHI-A] wherein the Tribunal had, inter alia, observed that "DTAA is only an alternate tax regime and not an exemption regime" and, therefore, "the burden is first on the Revenue to show that the assessee has a taxable income under the DTAA, and then the burden is on the assessee to show that that its income is exempt under DTAA". Quite clearly, when there is no taxability under the respective treaty provisions, there cannot be any taxability under the provisions of the Income Tax Act either. - Decided in favour of assessee. TDS liability on reimbursement of expenses under the cost sharing arrangement for regular preventive maintenance - taxable as fees for technical services under section 9(1)(vii) - Satisfy the requirements of ‘make available’ clause - Held that:- As we have noted earlier, it is not even the case of the Assessing Officer that the assessee, i.e. recipient of services, was enabled to use these services in future without recourse to the service providers. The tests laid down by Hon’ble Court in DIT Vs Guy Carpenter & Co Ltd [ 2012 (5) TMI 31 - DELHI HIGH COURT ] were clearly not satisfied. For this short reason alone, the amounts in question were not taxable as fees for technical services under the provisions of the respective tax treaties. The law is well settled, we may add at the cost of repetition, that under article 90(2) where the Government has entered into a tax treaty with any tax jurisdiction, in relation to the assessee to whom such treaty applies, “the provisions of this (i.e. Income Tax) Act shall apply to the extent they are more beneficial to that assessee”. When the amounts are not taxable under the provisions of the respective tax treaties, there cannot be any occasion to deal with the provisions of the Income Tax Act. We, therefore, approve the conclusions arrived at by the CIT(A) on this issue as well, and decline to interfere in the matter.- Decided in favour of assessee.
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