Skip to main content

Posts

Reducing Transfer Pricing Litigation via Advance Pricing Agreements

  Introduction   Simply put, an Advanced Pricing Agreement (“APA”) is an agreement between a taxpayer (either an individual or a corporate entity) and the tax authority/authorities. The APA determines the transfer pricing methodology for pricing an enterprises’[2] future international transactions[3] or certain specified domestic transactions. The idea of signing APAs is to avoid protracted Transfer Pricing[4] (“TP”) litigation on ascertaining what would be the appropriate criteria for determining the Arm’s Length Price[5] for an international transaction. APAs are a dispute prevention mechanism, as opposed to a dispute resolution mechanism. They provide a taxpayer with tax certainty by ensuring that the transactions will not be challenged by the competent authority, provided the transactions stay within the parameters of what was negotiated upon in the APA.   Current APA Regime in India   Currently, if an entity transacts with its associated enterprise (“AE”), domiciled outside India,

Outward FDI nearly halves to $3.39 billion in April, says RBI data

  On sequential basis too, the outward investment from India in April was lower compared to USD 3.44 billion in March 2022 India's outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) nearly halved to USD 3.39 billion in April on an annual basis, as per data released by the RBI on Monday. The OFDI stood at USD 6.71 billion in April 2021. On sequential basis too, the outward investment from India in April was lower compared to USD 3.44 billion in March 2022. Of the USD 3.39 billion OFDI, the equity component was USD 544.87 million and loans amounted to USD 764.25 million. Indian companies issued guarantees worth USD 2.08 billion in April 2022. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) further said the data is provisional and subject to change based on online reporting by banks. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)   -Business Standard, 11 th  May 2022

Sebi doing inspection of Invesco’s debt funds

  Sebi doing inspection of Invesco’s debt funds   The capital markets regulator has initiated an inspection of the fixed income schemes of Invesco Asset Management (India) following a complaint by a whistle-blower, two people familiar with the development. Invesco said its business and portfolios remain 'unaffected'. The whistle-blower is a former fund manager of Invesco who complained to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) about the mismanagement of schemes at the fund house. "Sebi received a complaint a few months ago and has started inspection of the debt schemes based on the allegations made by the whistle-blower. Once the inspection report comes in, the next course of action will be taken," said the first of the two persons cited above. "It's a sensitive matter and the Sebi chairperson is handling it directly," said another person familiar with the development. The exact nature of the violations could not be ascertained. The whistle-bl

MPC hasn't compromised on price stability: RBI governor Shaktikanta Das

  The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has not compromised on its primary mandate of price stability by continuing with an accommodative stance, even as central banks in developed countries are on course to adopt a tighter monetary policy in view of high inflation, after a prolonged period of ultra-loose monetary policy, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Friday. “We have continued with our accommodative stance based on our own domestic growth-inflation dynamics, amidst the current divergence in policy actions of central banks across the world,” the RBI governor, who chairs the MPC, said while speaking at the National Defence College. “Thus, we have used the flexibility embedded in the flexible inflation targeting (FIT) framework and implemented our monetary policies, without compromising on our primary mandate of price stability.” In the recently concluded meeting of India’s rate-setting body, the six-member committee voted to keep the benchmark policy rates u

Budget News 2022

Budget News 2022      1. Taxing income doesn't give private cryptos legitimacy: FM Sitharaman   At the customary post-Budget media interactions, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her topmost bureaucrats touched upon a number of issues. The minister said the government taxing income from digital virtual assets did not give them legitimacy and that issue was being dealt separately in the planned cryptocurrency Bill. She also expressed confidence that the Budget targets were achievable. Excerpts:   On cryptocurrencies The RBI will be issuing a digital currency. A currency can be issued only by the central bank even if it is a cryptocurrency. Anything outside that though we refer to them as currencies, they are not so. Buying and selling is happening and profits are being made, and nothing stops me from taxing them. Taxing does not confer on them legitimacy. We are not taxing a currency (digital rupee) that is yet to be issued. Everything outside this is an asset created by indiv

Sebi signals a new trend: Summons and notices to come via WhatsApp, Telegram

  Mumbai: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) will now send show cause notices, summons and orders to securities law offenders via instant messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal, a move that will make the processes speedier and efficient.This will be in addition to the normal mode of communication including electronic mail, registered post, courier and fax.   "The law and regulation concerning the securities market and the regulatory framework continues to see dynamic changes from time to time," said Zerick Dastur, founder of Zerick Dastur, advocates and solicitors. "In an effort to smoothen the system of adjudication and issuance of timely processes, the manner of service of notices and orders has also undergone changes to meet with the needs of time."   A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde, and Justices R S Reddy and A S Bopanna agreed with the suggestions of attorney general K K Venugopal and solicitor general Tushar Mehta that noti