Circular No. 765

Taxation of foreign telecasting companies—Guidelines for computation of income-tax, etc

What this is

Circular No. 765 was issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes on 15 April 1998. Its subject is Taxation of foreign telecasting companies—Guidelines for computation of income-tax, etc.

What it does

Keeps the foreign telecasting company guidelines alive. Circular No. 742 dated 2 May 1996 had laid down guidelines for taxing and computing the income of foreign telecasting companies, and by their own terms they ran only up to 31 March 1998. The Board extends them beyond that date and directs that they apply to all pending cases whatever the assessment year involved, until further orders.

Why it was issued

The guidelines in Circular No. 742 were about to run out on 31 March 1998, and the Board decided to carry them forward rather than let cases fall back on no guidance.

Who it reaches

Foreign telecasting companies with advertisement revenue from India
Their Indian agents and distributors
Assessing Officers with pending assessments of such companies

The instrument, as the Board published it

The words below are the department’s own, reproduced from its published text. Where the department’s copy carried a publisher’s notes after the instrument, those are not reproduced.

Taxation of foreign telecasting companies—Guidelines for computation of income-tax, etc.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes, vide Circular No. 742, dated 2nd May, 1996, issued guidelines for taxation and computation of income of foreign telecasting companies. The guidelines were applicable up to 31st March, 1998. It has been decided to extend the circular beyond 31st March, 1998, and the guidelines issued in the abovementioned circular would be applicable to all pending cases irrespective of the assessment year involved until further orders.
Circular : No. 765, dated 15-4-1998.

What to watch

The extension is open-ended in its own terms, running 'until further orders', so a later order of the Board can end it.
It reaches pending cases irrespective of the assessment year, so the year under assessment is not the test; whether the case was pending is.
The substance is entirely in Circular No. 742, which this circular does not reproduce; you need that circular to work a case.
The note is only three sentences of extension and settles nothing about how income is to be computed.

Where you meet it

In an assessment or an appeal of a foreign telecasting company where the question is whether the Circular No. 742 basis of computation is available for the year in hand.

← Circular No. 766 · Circular No. 764 →

A circular binds the department, not you and not a court. The Board issues a circular to its own officers. An assessee may hold the department to a circular that helps him; the department cannot hold an assessee to one that hurts him, and the Tribunal and the courts decide the law for themselves.

Source: the Income Tax Department’s own published text — its page for this instrument.