Court : Authority for Advance Rulings
Syed Shah Mohammed Quadri, J. (Chairman), A.S. Narang and A. Sinha, Members 1. In this batch of forty cases, thirty applications are filed by Fidelity Group of USA, nine by the Fidelity Group of Canada and one by the Matthews India Fund. All these applications are filed under Section 245Q(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (for short 'the Act') to seek advance rulings of the Authority on the questions mentioned therein.Inasmuch as the germane questions in all the applications are common, we propose to decide them together. The applicants have taken up application No. AAR/694 of 2006 filed by Fidelity Hastings Street Trust (from USA group) as representative of facts in all other cases. The applicant in AAR/694 of 2006 (for short 'the applicant') is a scheme of investment fund organized as a Massachusetts Business Trust under the laws of Commonwealth of Massachusetts (USA). It is set up to provide investors a continuous source of managed investments in securities. It is registered under the...
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Reported in : (1999)237ITR135AAR
For Appellant/Petitioner/Plaintiff: S.B. Garg, chartered accountant and H.G. Chopra, Adv.Monte Harris v. CIT, [1996] 218 ITR 413 (AAR); In Re: Advance Ruling Application No. P-5 of 1995, [1997] 223 ITR 379; CIT v. Sachindramohan Nandy, [1984] 146 ITR 597; N.R. Sirker v. CIT, [1978] 111 ITR 281; Indulal Kanji Parekh v. CIT, [1987] 163 ITR 102 1. The applicant is a chartered accountant by profession. He left India on October 23, 1989, to take up employment in the Republic of Zambia in a corporation owned by the Government of Zambia. He was paid both in US dollars as well as in the local currency besides other benefits offered to him as per the rules of the corporation. He was allowed to remit his savings in convertible foreign currency to the country of his choice.He visited India for 49 days between February 18, 1991, and April 8, 1991, and for 32 days between December 18, 1994, and January 18, 1995, during his leave and thus, his stay in India never exceeded more than sixty days in an...
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Reported in : (2007)289ITR369AAR
Syed Shah Mohammed Quadri, J. (Chairman), A.S. Narang and A. Sinha, Members o Fringe benefit tax--Transportation costIncurred by applicant, a non-resident company--Transportation cost incurred by applicant, a non-resident company, in providing the transportation facility for movement of offshore employees from their residence in home countries (outside India) to the place of work (rig in India) and back is liable to fringe benefit tax.Whether the transportation costs incurred by the applicant on the to and fro journeys of employees from their residences in their home countries to the designated city in India and from there to the rig (in India) fall within the meaning of |conveyance| or |tour and travel (including foreign travel)| in clauses (F) and (Q) respectively of sub-section (2) of section 115WB of the Act. To resolve this controversy it is necessary to comprehend the connotation of terms, |residence|, |tour and travel|, |conveyance| and |transport|. They are not defined in Chap...
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Appellants: KnoWerX Education (India) Private Limited Vs.Seth Pushalal Mansinghka (P.) Ltd. v. CIT; Turner Morrison & Co. Ltd. v.Commissioner of Income-tax 1. M/s KnoWerX Education (India) Private Limited, states in its application that it is engaged in promoting professional examinations/certification programmes of foreign institutes, societies, professional bodies, etc., of international repute, which do not have any establishment of their own in India. In the course of this activity, the applicant has signed an agreement with the American Production and Inventory Control Society, Inc. (APICS) which is a non-profit making body, and offers three certification programmes, namely, CPIM, CIRM and CSCP. The applicant is in the process of signing another agreement with the American Society of Transportation and Logistics Inc. (AST&L) which is also a non-profit making body and offers its own certification programme known as CTL programme. The applicant intends to sign similar agree...
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A. Sinha, J. M/s KnoWerX Education (India) Private Limited, states in its application that it is engaged in promoting professional examinations/certification programmes of foreign institutes, societies, professional bodies, etc., of international repute, which do not have any establishment of their own in India. In the course of this activity, the applicant has signed an agreement with the American Production and Inventory Control Society, Inc. (APICS) which is a non-profit making body, and offers three certification programmes, namely, CPIM, CIRM and CSCP. The applicant is in the process of signing another agreement with the American Society of Transportation and Logistics Inc. (ASTandL) which is also a non-profit making body and offers its own certification programme known as CTL programme. The applicant intends to sign similar agreements in future with other foreign entities. Apart from this, the applicant carries on other activities as well, such as, corporate training, open publi...
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(By Mr. V.K.Shridhar) The applicant is a Company formed under the laws of the State of Ohio, USA and is a global manufacturer of engineered bearings, alloy and specialty steel related components. It was initially a joint venture between Timken USA and Tata Iron and Steel Company Limited (TISCO), subsequent to which the Company undertook a maiden public issue in the year 1991, and started commercial production one year later. Subsequently, Timken USA acquired the equity shares of the Company from TISCO in compliance with the laws of India. The dates of acquisition of shares of the Company by Timken USA are as below:Date of acquisitionNo. of shares24-07-1991 (Public issue)6,000,00022-11-1991 (Public issue)11,000,00013-04-1994 (Rights issue)8,500,00015-0301999 (Acquisition of shares from TISCO)25,499,98850,999,988Timken India Ltd is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The applicant proposes to transfer 50,999,988 equity shares held by it in Timken India to Timken Mauritius Ltd as part of...
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Honble Chairman 1. The applicant is a Company incorporated in Poland and a tax resident of Poland. The applicant provides geophysical services to international oil and gas industry. The applicant conducts seismic surveys and provides on-shore seismic data acquisition and other associated services such as processing and interpretation of such data to global and oil companies. Seismic data acquisition has been explained to mean acquisition of data/information relating to earth structure in order to identify the existence of hydrocarbons underneath. Such services are aimed at increasing the exploration success of its customers and assisting them in maximizing the production from their existing reservoirs. It is explained that seismic surveys can paint the picture of the sub-surface in order to better target oil and gas reserves. The results would help assessing the potential for tapping oil and gas at the particular spot. It is further stated that seismic surveys are conducted to gather d...
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Reported in : (1999)240ITR518AAR
1. The applicant, "A", is a company incorporated in Canada and is a 100 per cent. subsidiary of a public limited company incorporated in Canada. It holds 16,414,616 shares in an Indian company, which constitute its Indian assets. There is a proposal for a "vertical short form amalgamation" of the applicant and its holding company in accordance with the provisions of Section 184(1) of the Canada Business Corporations Act. As a result thereof, the two companies will amalgamate and continue thereafter as one corporation and the shares held by the applicant in the Indian company will vest in the new corporation. The applicant desires to know whether the proposed transaction will attract any tax under the head "Capital gains" qua the shares of the Indian company held by it.2. The applicant-company has filed this application under Section 245Q(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 ("the Act"), and sought an advance ruling on the following questions : "(i) Whether any liability to pay income-tax in...
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Reported in : (1999)238ITR296AAR
Suhas C. Sen, J. (Chairman), Subhash C. Jain and Mohini Bhussry, Members 1. The present application has been filed by "Y" under Section 245Q(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961.2. The applicant, "Y", is a company formed and incorporated in the USA and belongs to the "ABC" group of companies which operate in the worldwide credit card and travel business. "Y" is a wholly owned subsidiary of "X". "Z" is a wholly owned subsidiary of the applicant-company. In other words, "Y" is the holding company and "Z" is its wholly owned subsidiary company.3. An Indian company by the name of "XT" was incorporated as a private limited company on June 28, 1994, having its main object as the operation of a high technology centre for data management, information analysis and control of the ABC group and other companies in Asia, Europe or elsewhere. It became a deemed public company with effect from April 1, 1997, by virtue of provisions of Sub-section (1A) of Section 43A of the Companies Act, 1956, on the basi...
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Reported in : (2004)(93)ECC594
Syed Shah Mohammed Quadri, Chairman, K.N. Chaturvedi and Somnath Pal, Members For Respondents/Defendant: L. Rajendran, Assistant Commissioner Service-tax 1. In this application under Section 96C of the Finance Act, 1994 (hereinafter referred to as the Finance Act), the applicant seeks an advance ruling from this Authority on the question : "Applicability of service tax on agreements executed for franchise services prior to the date of introduction of service tax i.e. 1st July, 2003," Having regard to the provisions of Sub-section (2) of Section 96D of the Finance Act, we have perused the application, the comments received from the Commissioner and having perused the technical note tentatively We are of the opinion that the application is liable to be rejected. A notice in terms of the second proviso to Sub-section (2) of Section 96D shall be issued to the applicant to explain as to why the application should not be rejected on the grounds; (a) that the activity has already been commen...
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