The recent judgment of ITAT[1] Mumbai in the matter of Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited[2] (for brevity ‘Jio India’) is one of a classic judgment in dealing with the interpretation of phrases/expression that are used in DTAA[3] but which are not defined therein. In this article, we try to summarise the key findings of the said judgement.
Before we proceed to analyse and note the key findings, a peek into the facts of the matter involved is warranted. Jio India has a bandwidth services agreement with Reliance Jio Infocomm Pte Limited (for brevity ‘Jio Singapore’) and against such agreement Jio India has remitted a payment of US $ 15,91,520. While making such payment Jio has withheld tax under Section 195 of IT Act[4]. Jio India post payment of tax has filed an application before CIT(A)[5] under Section 248 praying for a declaration to the effect that such tax need not be withheld on the payments made to Jio Singapore.
Read more: Interpretation of Article 3(2) - Significance of phrase ‘Term’