ON the international taxation front, the Finance Bill proposes to expand the definition of 'Business Connection' in Section 9 of the I-T Act. The expression 'Business Connection' would now include the term 'significant economic presence'.

The Finance Bill underlines, “significant economic presence” for this purpose, shall mean,

(i) any transaction in respect of any goods, services or property carried out by a non-resident in India including provision of download of data or software in India if the aggregate of payments arising from such transaction or transactions during the previous year exceeds the amount as may be prescribed; or

(ii) systematic and continuous soliciting of its business activities or engaging in interaction with such number of users as may be prescribed, in India through digital means.

It is further proposed to provide that only so much of income as is attributable to such transactions or activities shall be deemed to accrue or arise in India. It is further proposed to provide that the transactions or activities shall constitute significant economic presence in India, whether or not the non-resident has a residence or place of business in India or renders services in India.

The proposed amendment in the domestic law will enable India to negotiate for inclusion of the new nexus rule in the form of 'significant economic presence' in the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements. It may be clarified that the aforesaid conditions stated above are mutually exclusive. The threshold of “revenue” and the “users” in India will be decided after consultation with the stakeholders. Further, it is also clarified that unless corresponding modifications to PE rules are made in the DTAAs, the cross border business profits will continue to be taxed as per the existing treaty rules.

With a view to prevent base erosion and profit shifting, the recommendations under BEPS Action Plan 7 have now been included in Article 12 of Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures (MLI), to which India is also a signatory. Consequently, these provisions will automatically modify India’s bilateral tax treaties covered by MLI, where treaty partner has also opted for Article 12. As a result , the DAPE provisions in Article 5(5) of India’s tax treaties, as modified by MLI, shall become wider in scope than the current provisions in Explanation 2 to section 9(1)(i). Similarly, the antifragmentation rule introduced as per paragraph 4.1 of Article 5 of the OECD Model Tax Conventions, 2017 has narrowed the scope of the exception under Article 5(4), thereby expanding the scope of PE in DTAA vis-a-vis domestic provisions contained in Explanation 2 to section 9(1)(i). In effect, the relevant provisions in the DTAAs are wider in scope than the domestic law. However, sub-section (2) of section 90 of the Act provides that the provisions of the domestic law would prevail over corresponding provisions in the DTAAs, to the extent they are beneficial. Since, in the instant situations, the provisions of the domestic law being narrower in scope are more beneficial than the provisions in the DTAAs, as modified by MLI, such wider provisions in the DTAAs are ineffective