Summary: 1. Cases • India: Booz - Authority for Advanced Rulings (AAR) - Non-resident affiliates of Booz India were each held to have a PE in India - Decision based on the fact that Booz India’s business is entwined with, and commercially dependent on, non-resident affiliates - Contrast between this case and Delhi High Court’s decision in e-Funds (discussed in Dbriefs Bytes last week) is striking • India: Gupta Overseas - Agra Income Tax Appellate Tribunal - Indian company failed to withhold tax from payments to non-residents - Thus, tax deduction denied for such payments - Taxpayer argued that the provision which denies the deduction breaches the non-discrimination article under the relevant treaties - Tribunal: Article 24(4) (deduction neutrality) is breached, but not Article 24(1) (nationality) 2. Japan • Consumption tax - Japan is planning to change law to impose consumption tax on in-bound supplies of services and intangibles, in B2C situations – effective 1 October 2015 - Compliance is the difficult issue - Similar issue is faced in South Africa and the EU • Foreign asset report - New report is required to be filed (for the first time) by 17 March 2014 - Failure to file can be punished by imprisonment • 2013 protocol to Japan / U.S. treaty - U.S. ratification process is “stuck” in the Senate • For information: Jun Takahara (Tokyo): jun.takahara@tohmatsu.co.jp 3. India • “Interim budget” released this week • No income tax changes • Finance Minister: Direct Taxes Code (DTC) will be placed on Finance Ministry’s website • For information: K.R. Sekar (Bangalore): krsekar@deloitte.com 4. BEPS • G20 Finance Ministers meet in Sydney this weekend • Expect strong political statements supporting BEPS Project • Updated OECD BEPS timetable: www.deloitte.com/ap/dbriefs/bytes • For information: David Watkins (Sydney): dwatkins@deloitte.com.au 5. In brief • Treaties - India / Croatia - Philippines / Nigeria • Upcoming budgets - Singapore: today - Hong Kong: 26 February 2014 • OECD publishes comments on two discussion drafts - To access the comments, please visit www.deloitte.com/ap/dbriefs/bytes • New Zealand: Alesco case - Taxpayer’s appeal to Supreme Court discontinued after settlement agreed with tax authorities
