The Delhi High Court has allowed the petition of Technip Singapore, a company providing offshore construction, engineering and support services to oil and gas industry, against the ruling of the Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR). The Singapore company is
entitled to the benefit of India-Singapore double tax avoidance agreement (DTAA). In 2008, it signed a $ 18million contract with Indian Oil Corporation for offshore construction work at Paradip involving installation of Indian Oil-supplied equipment. The Singapore
firm maintained that it did not have any project office or any other premises in India for executing the work. Its obligations were fulfilled by deputing men and materials at the offshore site where the activity was performed. However, the ITO (international
taxation) filed a report before the AAR stating that its income was taxable in India as fees for technical services both under the Income Tax Act and the DTAA. The high court ruled that the Singapore company had no permanent establishment in India, nor a fixed
pace of business or project officer and it was present only for 41 days. Therefore, the income earned by it from the contract with Indian Oil could not be brought to tax in India in terms of DTAA. - www.business-standard.com [13-06-2016]