Binding only on the applicant who sought it, in respect of the transaction the ruling was sought on, and on the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner and the authorities subordinate to him in respect of that applicant and that transaction — and only until the law or the facts change (section 245S). It binds nobody else. The Tribunal and the courts nonetheless treat a considered ruling as persuasive, which is why practitioners cite them.
I am a foreign technician deputed to India by my overseas employer, who pays my Indian tax. The Indian factory slits, perforates and spools imported film. Am I a technician in manufacturing operations, and does it matter that my employer is foreign?
Our US company laid a submarine pipeline offshore India as a subcontractor. The work took 39 days. Does that give us a permanent establishment under the India-US treaty?
I am a British engineer working for an Indian joint venture on a cellular network and my employer pays my tax. Am I a technician entitled to the exemption?
We are a UK development body. Indian companies pay us a share of the cost of export-promotion projects we run for them, and we make nothing on it. Is that a fee for technical services taxable in India?
We are a Mauritius company set up to channel US money into Indian securities. Are we entitled to the India-Mauritius treaty on our dividends, interest and capital gains?
I work in Abu Dhabi but my family, my home and most of my assets are in India. Can I still be treated as a UAE resident under the treaty and get the concessional rates on my Indian dividends, interest and capital gains?
A foreign non-profit runs hospitality courses in India through a branch and charges licence fees and course fees to Indian institutes. Is that income exempt as an educational institution, and does a surplus destroy the exemption?
Indian operators are about to deduct 55 per cent from what they pay my Swedish company for installing a GSM network. Can they deduct on my thin net margin instead?
We sold our global beer brand and the Indian trade marks went with it. Is any part of the price taxable in India, and can the split be made on our own valuation?
I have come back to India after seven years working abroad and my NRNR rupee deposits and foreign currency deposits are still running. Do the non-resident concessions stop the day I become resident, and when is the interest taxed?
Our French company drilled a pipeline crossing under a river in India for a public sector customer. The whole job took three months. Can the Revenue tax the contract price as fees for technical services even though we have no permanent establishment?
The State government paying our consultancy fee is deducting tax at 42.85 per cent when the India-UK treaty caps technical fees at 15 per cent, and it - not we - has already gone to the Assessing Officer under s.195(2). Can we still get an advance ruling on the rate?
Our Austrian parent seconds its technical staff to us and we repay it exactly what their salaries cost. The staff work under our control. Must we withhold tax under section 195 on that repayment?
My Swiss company is assigning its rights under an Indian supply agreement to a new Indian subsidiary and the deed is signed in Switzerland. Is the assignment fee taxable in India?
Two Mauritius companies my UK parent set up hold shares in an Indian bank. Can we get the India-Mauritius treaty rate on the dividends and exemption on the eventual share gains?
Our French engineering group will build a turnkey plant in India, with some work done here and a great deal done abroad. Can India tax the work done abroad, and are the payments royalties, technical fees or business profits?
A US firm did a feasibility study for us, but it is paid directly out of a US government grant, not by us. Is the fee taxable in India, and must we deduct tax?
We send faulty equipment abroad for repair by a US supplier and separately pay it to maintain the software. Do we deduct tax on either, and at what rate?
I am a Swedish national deputed to India to set up a digital cellular network. Am I a technician for section 10(5B), and does a return filed after applying spoil my application?
Our Hong Kong company wants an Indian liaison office that only gathers information from garment makers and chases up shipments. Does that create Indian tax?
Indian cargo agents pay our Singapore company a subscription for a password to use our air-cargo booking portal, which sits on our servers in Singapore. Is that taxable in India?
I live and work in the UAE, where individuals pay no income tax. Can I claim the India-UAE treaty on my Indian dividends, interest and capital gains?
We pay our Singapore group company a share of its regional costs for market research and management advice. If there is no profit in it, must we still deduct tax under section 195?
We buy standardised business information reports from a Spanish company and resell them here. Do we have to withhold tax on what we pay, as royalty or technical fees?
Our US fund buys and sells Indian shares through local brokers and a custodian bank. Are our gains business profits or capital gains, and does the custodian give us a permanent establishment?
We have credited royalty and management fees to our Swedish and Swiss group companies in our books but remitted nothing. Do we have to deduct tax now, or only when we pay?
We are a US pension trust, exempt from tax at home, investing a small part of our fund in Indian securities. Can we claim the India-US treaty, and are our gains business income?
My UAE establishment wants an Indian liaison office to run seminars and pass enquiries back to Dubai. Will that be a business connection, and can I use the India-UAE treaty?
We pay commission and a retainer to agents in France, Canada and the USA who find export orders for our software. None of them sets foot in India. Do we deduct tax?
Our Luxembourg company collects a share of an Indian hotel's revenue to fund worldwide marketing, all of it done abroad. Is that money taxable in India?
I am an Indian citizen who has lived in Dubai for years and I hold Indian shares and debentures. Can I claim the India-UAE treaty on my dividends, interest and capital gains?
Our Indian subsidiary does back-office work for us and we pay it cost plus a mark-up, and we send some of our own people over. Is the subsidiary our permanent establishment, and can the Revenue attribute anything more to us once the subsidiary has been paid an arm's length price?
We are a UK company registered as an FII, trading index and stock futures and options on Indian exchanges through brokers and custodians. Is that income taxable in India?
The Department says my advance ruling application is barred because scrutiny of my return had already begun. Does a section 143(2) notice issued before I applied shut me out?
Our Indian company pays its US group parent for time on the group's mainframe computers and for use of the group data network. Is that royalty taxable in India?
We are in a consortium supplying rolling stock to Delhi Metro. Our returns are filed and a writ about the TDS rate is pending. Can we still get an advance ruling?
Our US parent charges us only its actual cost for services it performs in America, with no mark-up. Must we still withhold tax under section 195?
Our UAE remittance house has Indian liaison offices that download remittance particulars and post cheques to the beneficiaries. Does that make us taxable in India?
Our Dutch company is moving its Indian subsidiary's shares to another group company in the Netherlands. If the gain is exempt under the treaty, do we still have to withhold, file a return and do a transfer pricing study?
My tenant has paid me a lump sum of back rent after a long-delayed rent revision. Is that taxable as house property income in the year I receive it?
I am a geologist running production at three oil and gas fields in India for a foreign oil company. Am I a technician in mining, or in constructional operations, for the section 10(5B) exemption?
We collect examination fees in India for two American professional bodies and send the money on. Is that taxable here, and must we deduct tax before we remit?
I have become resident in India by the time I want an advance ruling, and I have filed my return in the meantime because the due date came round. Can the Authority still hear my application?
I applied to the Authority on 26 March and filed a revised return claiming an exemption on 30 March. The Department says my question was already pending. Was it?
We are a foreign oil and gas exploration company entitled to the special deductions in s.42. Can we take those deductions before working out book profit for minimum alternate tax?
We bought engineering drawings and designs outright from a US company for our plant. The buyer withheld tax treating it as royalty. Was that right?
Our American employee spent 76 days in India working at our group's Indian branch. The branch meets his housing, car and utility bills locally, but the US parent reimburses the branch. Is his salary taxable in India?
Part of our consultancy work for an Indian client is done in our own office abroad, and the contract puts every Indian tax on the client. Is the offshore part of the fee still taxable in India - and can we even ask the Authority when the tax is not ours to bear?
We are a Malaysian company that recruits skilled workers abroad and supplies them to a Korean contractor working offshore India. We are paid outside India and we supervise nothing. Are we taxable here?
My Mauritius company sells advertising airtime on a channel beamed into India, and an Indian associate canvasses the advertisers and collects the money for us. Does that associate give us a permanent establishment here?
Our US employer has seconded a telecom manager to India and is bearing his Indian tax. He has no formal technical qualification and cannot produce his certificates. Can he still be a technician for the s.10(5B) exemption?
I am a German engineer on the board of an Indian company and I also consult for it from Germany. The department says everything the company pays me is directors' fees taxable in India. Is it?
Our Australian firm monitors a pipeline project in India for the owner - schedules, reporting, coordinating contractors. Is our fee a royalty, or business profits we are taxed on only if we have a permanent establishment?