- (1.) Leave granted.
(2.) The short question which arises for determination in this batch of cases is - whether the High Court was right in holding that the moment there is remittance the obligation to deduct tax at source (TAS) arises Whether merely on account of such remittance to the non-resident abroad by an Indian company per se, could it be said that income chargeable to tax under the Income Tax Act, 1961 (for short "I.T. Act") arises in India Facts in the leading case of Sonata Information Technology Ltd.
(3.) Appellant(s) are the distributors of imported pre- packaged 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.;