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2022 (5) TMI 325

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..... o remain silent on the relevant facts and materials placed on record which showed that no installation, assembly, or supervisory services were tendered by foreign suppliers in India. In fact, it is not even the AO's case while holding that foreign suppliers had PE in India that such PE was pursuant to any installation, assembly or supervisor services rendered by any of the foreign suppliers. Instead, the AO harped on the fact that each supplier had appointed agent in India and made unsubstantiated and hypothetical allegations that terms for sale and/or contract for supplies were concluded in India through the agents in India and therefore a portion of the remittances made to such foreign suppliers were taxable in India. This Tribunal had set aside the order on the limited issue to the Ld. AO. to verify whether any of the foreign suppliers had a Permanent Establishment in Under the respective DTAAs. This ITAT has held that the installment or supervisory services in connection to sale of machinery or equipment has to cross the specified time threshold limit for the non-resident entity too be treated as having a permanent establishment in India. AO. while passing the order h .....

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..... ies were marked in the purchase order/letter of intent sent to the vendors. Thus, it is not only a legal right to secure order but also it is to be found, as a matter of fact that agent has habitually secured order or habitually negotiates contract. Assessing officer could not bring any material on record which would establish such a relationship between the independent parties and non-resident vendors wherein habitual/sustained ability to negotiate or secure contracts could be demonstrated. The ld. assessing officer has jumped to the conclusion of existence of permanent establishment due to the involvement of local parties providing auxiliary services. The assessing officer s contention is that the communication has been routed through the agent and the agent was involved in the negotiations and discussion with the appellant to finalise the transaction. The assessing officer made the farfetched assumption that all negotiations were entered into by agents on behalf of the vendors only on the basis of marking of such parties in communication of final POs and LOIs between the appellant and the vendors. AO thus contradicts all his arguments made to establish a Dependent Agency P .....

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..... ORDER PER MANISH BORAD, A.M.: The above captioned appeals filed at the instance of the assessee are directed against the order of Ld. Commissioner of Income Tax(Appeal) (in short Ld. CIT(A)]-13, Ahmedabad dated 31.10.2019 which is arising out of the order u/s 143(3) of the Income Tax Act 1961(In short the Act ) dated 18.11.2011 by ITO(IT TP), Bhopal. The common grounds of appeal have been raised so we reproduce below grounds for A.Y. 2010-11: 1.On the facts and in the circumstances of the case and in law, the Ld. CIT(A) erred in confirming the order of the Assessing Officer even-though the Assessing Officer has not followed the findings and directions contained in the order of the Hon'ble ITAT and was illegal and without jurisdiction. 2.On the facts and in the circumstances of the case and in law, the Ld. CIT(A) erred in determining the permanent establishment of the foreign suppliers as per the general Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements ignoring the specific finding given by the Hon'ble ITAT Jabalpur in the case of the appellant specifying treaty-wise relevant definition of 'permanent establishment' to be considered in the case of the a .....

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..... o the above, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case and in law, the Ld. CIT(A) erred in confirming the order of the Assessing Officer even though the Assessing Officer has failed to establish that the foreign suppliers had any business connection in India so that income may be charged to tax in India as per section 5(2)(b) r.w.s. 9(1)(i) of the Act. 6. On the facts and in the circumstances of the case and in law, the Ld. CIT(A) erred in not directing the Ld. AO to allow credit for payment of tax aggregating to Rs. 1,45,00,000/- deposited to the credit of Central Government from time to time. 7. The Appellant craves to add, alter or delete all or modify any or all the above grounds of appeal. 2. From perusal of the grounds we find that following two issues needs to be adjudicated:- A. Whether Ld. Assessing Officer erred in referring to provision of income Tax Act even though the ITAT held that the question of chargeability under section 5 and section 9 is academic, thus making the assessment bad in law B. Since matter was set aside by ITAT for examination of agency PE only whether Ld. Assessing Officer failed to bring anything on record to establish .....

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..... 3,31,77,260 20,70,23,865 i. Further, the purpose of payments is as follows: For A.Y. 2010-11: S. No. Name of Party Purpose of Payment 1 Polysius AG Purchase of Equipment for Polycom Model No. 30/13-9 marked as POLBEC 2 RHI AG Purchase of Basic Brick (Ankral R2CB and S2CB) 3 PARR Instrument Co. Purchase of Digital Isoperibol Calorimeter 4 Shanyand Heavy Machinery Co. Ltd. Purchase of vertical roller mill for coal grinding work For A.Y. 2011-12: S. No. Name of Party Purpose of Payment 1 TangsangSenpu Mine Equipment Co. Ltd. Purchase of coal preparation (coal washery) plant 2 Polysius AG Purchase of equipment for Polycom Model No. 303-19 marked as POLBEC .....

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..... -resident entities had a business connection in India and created a demand for default of non-deduction of TDS@ 41.2% along with leving interest thereby creating demand of Rs. 48,07,726/- for A.Y. 2010-11 and demand of Rs. 2,89,95,315/- for A.Y. 2011-12. Again the assessee preferred an appeal before the ld. CIT(A) but did not find any favour as the finding of Ld. Assessing Officer were confirmed by the ld. CIT(A). 6. Now assessee is in appeal before this Tribunal raising various grounds but the same are limited to two issues mainly contending that firstly ld. Assessing Officer exceeded his jurisdiction by ignoring the finding of the Tribunal by applying the provision of section 5(2)(b) r.w.r.t. 9(1) of the Act in place of DTAA provisions and secondly the Ld. Assessing Officer erred in holding that the non-resident were having a Permanent Establishment in India without bringing any thing on record to establish that dependent Abench PE existed in light of the Article 5 6 of DTAA. 7. Ld. Counsel for the assessee vehemently argued supporting the detailed written submission filed before us and Ld. CIT(A) and also referred to following documents enclosed in the paper book:- .....

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..... 12 Copy of R.A. Bills Raised By M/s Hajee A.P. Bava Co. for Fabrication and Erection of Coal Washery 593 to 596 13 Copy of Letter of Intent for purchase of equipment for Polycom Model No. 20/13-9 marked as POLBEC dated 15.09.2009 597 to 599 14 a) Copy of a Formal Contract Entered into Between the Appellant and Polysius AG dated 01.12.2009 for Supply of Machinery 600 to 602 b) Copy of Contract for Supply of Technical Assistance and Guidance 603 to 704 15 Copy of TDS Challans Paid in the Case of M/s Polysius AG and M/s Shengyang Heavy Machinery Co. Ltd. 705 to 708 16 Copy of Invoices for Charges for Technical Assistance and Guidance Provided by M/s Polysius AG 709 to 713 17 Copy of Order for Purchase of Vertical Roller Mill vide Purchase Order dated 14.12.2009 placed with M/s Shengyang Hea .....

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..... Copy of Ledger Account of M/s Thermo Fisher Scientific Ecublens SARL 836 to 837 30 Copy of Invoices Raised By Non-resident Entities For Purchase of Machinery 838 to 871 31 Copy of Bill of Entry for Purchase of Machinery 872 to 947 32 Copy of Certificates by Non-resident Entities Confirming That They Did Not Have any Permanent Establishment in India During the Relevant Period 948 to 953 B. PAPER BOOK II CASE LAWS RELIED UPON S. NO. PARTICULARS PAGE NO. 1 Copy of Judgement of Hon ble Bombay High Court in the Case of CIT vs. Indo-Aden Salt Works Company reported at (1959) 36 ITR 0429 (Bom.) 1 to 4 2 Copy of Judgement of Hon ble Ahmedabad Tribunal in the Case of Krishna TerinePvt. Ltd. vs. ACIT reported at 130 ITD 0411 (Ahd.) 4 to 22 3 .....

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..... A.Y. 11-12 1 Polysius AG Germany Article 5(1) and 5(5)(a) 1,48,01,845 11,50,11,953 2 RHI AG Austria Article 5(5)(a) 1,61,12,160 1,63,33,227 3 PARR Intrument Co. USA Article 5(4)(a) 8,05,273 2,07,32,088 4 Shanyong Heavy Machinery Co. Ltd. China Article 5(4) 14,57,982 1,24,80,714 5 Tangsang Senpu Mine Equipment Co. Ltd. China Article 5(4) - 1,88,42,739 6 Rexnord NV Belgium Article 5(4)(a) - 1 3,18,493 7 Thermo Fisher Scientific Ecublens SARL Switzerland Article 5(5)(i) - 5 6,67,600 8 .....

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..... unal. 11. We notice that in the first round the CIT(A) confirmed the AO s order and held the appellant to be assessee-in-default for not deducting taxes u/s 195 before remitting the gross payments to foreign suppliers. Aggrieved by the CIT(A) s order, the appellant preferred second appeal before this TAT, Jabalpur. The appeal of the appellant was decided by this ITAT, Jabalpur in ITA No. 252/JAB/13 dated 24.12.14. In the appellate order the relevant findings of the Tribunal were at Pages 47 to 51 of the order. The ITAT held that the impugned order dated 12.09.13 was bad in law and therefore set aside with certain findings and the tribunal has held that: Although the contracts between the appellant and foreign parties were composite but the appellant had brought sufficient evidence on record which showed that the remittances during the relevant previous years were made only towards supply of plant and machinery . 12. Further it was held by This Tribunal that wherever any supervisory or installation services were envisaged to be rendered by the foreign parties, separate payments were made by the appellant on which tax was deducted u/s 195 of the Act. The ITAT thus held that .....

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..... le 12 of the respective DTAAs in the subsequent financial years; but even such installation, assembly, and supervisory services, if any, rendered by foreign suppliers were not chargeable to tax in India since such services did not fall within the purview of Article 12 of the respective DTAAs. In support of this proposition, the ITAT referred to the definition of permanent establishment outlined in Article 2 of the respective DTAAs wherein it was stated that unless the installation or assembly project or supervisory activities in connection with supply of any plant or project does not cross the specified threshold time limit, the non-resident enterprise cannot be treated to have a permanent establishment in India.The ITAT quashed the original order passed u/s 201(1)/(1A) dared 27.03.2012 and deleted the tax demand raised pursuant thereto and set aside the order on the limited issue to the file of the AO for verifying whether any of the foreign suppliers had a Permanent Establishment in India under the respective DTAAs. ii. While concluding his submissions, learned Departmental Representative had filed a letter dated 25th September 2014 praying that as the DTAA aspects were not .....

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..... Subsequent to passing of the said appellate order, assessment proceedings were reconducted by the ITO (IT TP), Bhopal. The AO held that the foreign vendors have a dependent agency permanent establishment in India and thus all payments made by the appellant are subject to TDS under section 195. 13. We notice that to give effect to the order of this Tribunal dated 24.12.2014 proceedings were initiated by ITO (IT TP), Bhopal in the case of the appellant. As per para 58 of the ITAT's order, it was held by the ITAT that the scope of Section 5(2)(b) of the Act is academic since India does not have the right to tax income in respect of rendition of installation, commissioning, or assembly services, embedded in the invoice value of the related equipment, plant or machinery. The payments made to non-resident entities have no tax implications at all under the tax treaties. However, as the revenue authorities had not examined the aspects of DTAA, the matter was set aside to the file of assessing officer, it was directed that the facts as stated by the appellant with regards to 'Permanent Establishment' of foreign vendors not being in existence needs to be verified by the AO. .....

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..... China Article 5(4) 5 TangsangSenpu Mine Equipment Co. Ltd. China Article 5(4) 6 Rexnord NV Belgium Article 5(4)(a) 7 Thermo Fisher Scientific Ecublens SARL Switzerland Article 5(5)(i) 8 MMD Asia Pacific Ltd. UK Article 5(4) 17. We observe that instead of following the findings of the order of this Tribunal in the case of the appellant pertaining to permanent establishment , the Assessing Officer has referred to completely different definition of permanent establishment which is not acceptable This Tribunal has referred to the definition of permanent establishment wherein it has been stated that unless the installation or assembly project or supervisory activities in connection with supply of any plant or project does not cross the specified threshold time limit, the non-resident enterprise cannot be treated to have of permanent establishment in India. 18. The scope .....

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..... come Tax Appellate Tribunal, when no foundation had been laid for the same before the authorities or the said Tribunal. Bench further observed that there are questions of fact which out to be raised before the authorities and in the absence thereof, the additional question of law sought to be raised by the Revenue could not be considered. 20. In support of the above, the appellant made the following submissions on the scope and ambit of an assessment when the matter has been set aside by this ITAT: 1. As per settled law, the order of the Tribunal u/s 254(1) of the Act must be read and understood in the proper context and in the light of all that is stated in the order itself. 2. It is also settled law that in a set aside proceedings the authorities below are bound to decide as per the direction contained in the order and it is not open for the authorities to conduct fresh enquiry. The authorities below are precluded from entertaining a new plea. The authority is confined to the subject-matter on remand by the Tribunal, no other question could be considered or to enlarge the scope of the proceedings in contradiction to the findings given by the Tribunal. 3. At .....

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..... for relief from super-tax. That this was what happened before the Tribunal is expressly stated in the order of the Tribunal and it is only in this background and in this context that the words relating to vacating the order of AAC and restoring of the appeal must be read. It is true that read by itself the last sentence of the order would suggest that the AAC was being directed to deal with the entire appeal on its own merits. The order of the Tribunal must, however, be read and understood in the proper context and in the light of all that is stated in the order itself and if we do so, as indeed we should do so, there is considerable force in the submission on behalf of the assessee that the order must be read as restricting the scope of the inquiry by the AAC only to the question of merits affecting the claim for relief from super-tax. We must, however, observe that there is in this case scope for the contention very strongly pressed before us by Mr. Joshi on the consideration of the matter, we prefer to take the view that the order of the Tribunal required the AAC to enquire only into the matter of relief from super-tax on its merits. The decision of the Hon'ble ITAT .....

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..... enquiries and examining issues which were clearly beyond the ambit of the set aside proceedings directed by the this Tribunal. Thus, the findings and observations recorded by the Ld. AO. are factually and legally unjustified, untenable and unsustainable therefore, the order of the Ld. AO is quashed on the ground of being illegal and beyond jurisdiction and demand raised in the said order are deleted. Common legal issues raised in ground no.1 2 of assessee s appeals for A.Y. 2010-11 2011-12 are allowed. 23. As regards the second common issue about the existence of Permanent Establishment (in short (PE) of the alleged non-resident in India is concerned though the issue has become merely academic as we have already quashed the assessment order being illegal and bad in law but still will deal the same for academic purpose. 24. During the course of assessment proceeding the assessee submitted various documents related with the foreign vendor including purchase orders in response to the AO s roving queries so as to prove that alleged non-resident have no PE in India. However, Ld. AO held that these foreign vendors had an agency PE in India on the following grounds: a. The .....

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..... d not follow the directions of the Tribunal, Jabalpur Bench inasmuch as the matter was set aside to the file of the AO for proper verification. 27. Ld. counsel for the assessee also submitted that Ld. AO ought to have carried out thorough verification with the said parties. Instead, the AO has simply relied on the wordings of the purchase orders without verifying the complete facts of the case. No material has been brought on record by the AO to show that these Indian entities habitually acted on behalf of the non-resident entities. The finding arrived at by the AO are based on irrelevant and insufficient material. 28. From perusal of all the communication (through purchase orders and others) between the assessee and non-resident vendors we find that the entire transactions were carried out with the nonresidents on a principal-to-principal basis. As can be seen from the purchase orders and contracts of purchase entered into with the non-resident suppliers, that these Indian entities(agents) did not have any authority to bind the non-resident or the appellant. All the purchase orders were directly raised by the appellant in the name of the non-resident parties. The delivery of .....

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..... gime 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 . There is not even whisper of a suggestion that the non-resident vendors had a place of business in India. We have carefully perused the material on record and the orders of the authorities below and we do not find that suggestion anywhere. The case of existence of the PE thus hinges on whether by the virtue of, what is normally termed as, installation PE as could come up by the nature of the activities leading to the income impugned before us. The related provisions in respect of all these jurisdictions above are as follows: Indo Austria tax treaty ARTICLE 5 Permanent Establishment 1. For the purposes of this Convention, the term permanent establishment means a fixed place of business through which the business of an enterprise is wholly or partly carried on. 2. The term permanent establishment includes especially: (i)a building site or construction, installation or assembly project or supervisory activities in connection therewith, where s .....

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..... project or activities continue for a period exceeding six months. (Emphasis by underlining supplied by us; portion not reproduced not relevant for our purposes) India UK tax treaty ARTICLE 5 Permanent establishment 1. For the purposes of this Convention, the term permanent establishment means a fixed place of business through which the business of an enterprise is wholly or partly carried on. 2. The term permanent establishment shall include especially: (j) a building site or construction, installation or assembly project or supervisory activities in connection therewith, where such site, project or supervisory activity continues for a period of more than six months, or where such project or supervisory activity, being incidental to the sale of machinery or equipment, continues for a period not exceeding six months and the charges payable for the project or supervisory activity exceed 10 per cent of the sale price of the machinery and equipment; (Emphasis by underlining supplied by us; portion not reproduced not relevant for our purposes) Indo US tax treaty ARTICLE 5 Permanent Establishment 1. For the purpos .....

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..... n for installation or assembly project, or supervisory activities connected therewith, exceed 10% of the value of related plant, machinery or equipment. i. Further As per Article 5(5) of the DTAA between India and Austria, Where a person - other than an agent of an independent status to whom paragraph 6 applies - is acting in a Contracting State on behalf of an enterprise of the other Contracting State, that enterprise shall be deemed to have a permanent establishment in the first-mentioned State, if such a person: (a) has, and habitually exercises, in that State an authority to conclude contracts in the name of the enterprise, unless the activities of such person are limited to those mentioned in paragraph 4 which, if exercised through a fixed place of business would not make this fixed place of business a permanent establishment under the provisions of that paragraph; or (b) has no such authority, but habitually maintains in the first-mentioned State a stock of goods merchandise from which he regularly delivers goods or merchandise on behalf of the enterprise; or (c) habitually secures orders in the first-mentioned State, wholly or almost wholly for the e .....

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..... herein habitual/sustained ability to negotiate or secure contracts could be demonstrated. The ld. assessing officer has jumped to the conclusion of existence of permanent establishment due to the involvement of local parties providing auxiliary services. The assessing officer s contention is that the communication has been routed through the agent and the agent was involved in the negotiations and discussion with the appellant to finalise the transaction. The assessing officer made the farfetched assumption that all negotiations were entered into by agents on behalf of the vendors only on the basis of marking of such parties in communication of final POs and LOIs between the appellant and the vendors. 32. In the case of Mitsui Co Ltd vs DCIT ITA No 4377, Coordinate Bench Delhi held as follows: It is not the case of the Assessing Officer that MIPL habitually exercised authority to conclude contracts. It is also not the case of the Assessing Officer that MIPL habitually maintains a stock of goods or merchandise. Thus, the condition of (a) and (b) are not fulfilled. The third condition in (c) is habitually securing orders for the assessee. In this regard we note that the Ass .....

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..... third parties on behalf of the non-resident vendors. No enquiry with any of the parties was conducted by the ld. Assessing officer to establish that the conditions of existence of PE as per the DTAAs were satisfied. Further, dependency of the third parties was not established by the ld. Assessing officer. It is the assessee s contention that the ld. Assessing officer has incorrectly established existence of permanent establishment without conducting sufficient enquiries and bringing sufficient material on record in light of the articles of the DTAAs. 36. The ITAT in the case of Pubmatic India Pvt. Ltd.(2013) 36 taxmann.com 100(Mum Tribunal) held that where risks and rewards of the transaction are borne by the two contracting parties from different countries, the transaction is on a principal-to-principal basis and thus agency PE cannot be established. 37. Further, to interpret the words has and habitually exercises , guidance taken from the Advance Ruling in the case of TVM Limited vs. Commissioner of Income Tax (199) 237 ITR 230 It was held: While the expression has may have reference to the legal existence of such authority on the terms of the contract between th .....

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..... factured by the non-residents which the latter were not obliged to accept. The expression business connection postulates a real and intimate relation between trading activity (1) 22 I.T.R. 241 carried on outside the taxable territories and trading activity within the territories, the relation between the two contributing to the earning of income by the non- resident in his trading activity. In this case such a relation is absent. 39. As regards the decisions relied by Ld. AO we find that Ld. counsel for the assessee has placed contentions by distinguishing the facts of the case relied by Ld. AO. The facts of the assessee depicted in the chart below: Case Law Facts of Case Law Facts in Assessee s Case GVK Industries v The issue was pertaining to existence of business connection Only issue of Agency PE as per DTAA was to be examined ITO (1997) 228 ITR 564 Held that the essence of BC is the existence of close, real, intimate, relationship, and common interest Nothing brought on record to establish this. .....

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..... hilip Morris Case no. 3367,3368,7682 and 10925 dt. 20.12.01 The agent negotiated terms of the contracts with the customers No evidence to suggest so in the assessee s case. Contracts between agent and Swiss company were brought on record and examined. Authority was established on the basis of facts of the case. No such material brought on record to establish authority of agents to conclude contracts on behalf of the non-residents. 40. We further notice that Ld. AO in his finding has recorded that the foreign suppliers had PEs in India which marketed and sold the machineries to the appellant or that the contract or agreement for sale of plant and machineries were concluded in India or that the sale of machineries were concluded in India and thereby entire income on its sale accrued in India are based on no tangible or relevant material or evidence. Before recording such finding the AO did not bring any conclusive proof to substantiate such finding. The AO s findings were based on irrelevant information and material. Merely because correspondence between the appellant and the foreign suppli .....

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..... ndia. The transactional documents show that the entire value creation in supply of plant and machinery by foreign companies had taken place outside India prior to the date on which the ownership in the assets was transferred in assessee s favour. In the circumstances no part of any income associated with or embedded in sale of plant and machinery accrued in India and therefore liable to be taxed. For these reasons the assessee had no obligation to deduct tax u/s 195 of the Act. Without appreciating these material facts and tangible evidences on record the AO in the most arbitrary manner held that income embedded in supply of plant and machinery was liable to be taxed in India. 42. Further we find that Ld. AO computing income to the foreign remittance was entirely arbitrary, high pitched and based on no material evidences. The documentary evidences on record clearly show that the deliveries of plant and machinery were taken by the appellant outside India and the property in goods passed in assessee s favour outside India. It is a settled legal proposition that even if any income is to be imputed to any transaction on account of business connection then also the entire income asso .....

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..... section 5(2)(b) r.w.s. 9 of the Act completely ignoring the finding of this tribunal that provision of DTAA are more favourable to the assessee and therefore PE of the vendors was required to be analysed only in view of the Article 5(5) of DTAA which prescribes certain conditions of the period of such installation and supervisory work limit. Ld. AO has not recorded any such finding. Even otherwise on our examination of the facts we find that the transaction carried out between the assessee and non-resident vendors are on principle to principle basis and rates were finalized by way of communication between principle to principle and there was no permanent establishment of the foreign supplies in India as per relevant provisions of the DTAA. We notice that the foreign supplies have not exceeded the threshold time limit to constitute the PE as specified in the respective DTAA. We hold that the alleged Indian entities(agents) did not had any authority to conclude contracts on behalf of the non-resident suppliers and the alleged Indian entities do not maintain any stock of goods or mercantile on behalf of the alleged non-resident entities in India. We also hold that the alleged Indian e .....

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