Obligation to deduct tax at source (TAS) arises

Last updated: 15 September 2010

Court :
SC

Brief :
Appellant(s) are the distributors of imported prepackaged shrink wrapped standardized software from Microsoft and other Suppliers outside India. During the relevant assessment year(s) appellant(s) made payments to the said software Suppliers which according to the appellant(s) represented the purchase price of the abovementioned software. The ITO(TDS) held that since the sale of software included a license to use the same, payments made by the appellant(s) to the foreign Suppliers constituted royalty, which was deemed to accrue or arise in India. Therefore, TAS was liable to be deducted under Section 195 of the I.T. Act. The said finding of the ITO(TDS) was upheld by the Commissioner (A). In second appeal, the ITAT, however, held that the amount paid by appellant(s) to the foreign software Suppliers was not “royalty” and the same did not give rise to any income taxable in India, and therefore, the appellant(s) was not liable to deduct TAS.

Citation :
GE India Technology Centre Private Ltd. Versus Commissioner of Income Tax & Anr.