THE COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX - INTERNATIONAL TAXATION -1 vs. AMAZON WEB SERVICES, INC

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ITA - 154 / 2025HC Delhi15 May 20252 pages
For Petitioner: RUCHIR BHATIA
AI SummaryDismissed

What did the High Court hold?

The High Court noted that the Supreme Court decision in Engineering Analysis Centre of Excellence (P) Ltd. v. CIT likely covers the issue in favor of the assessee. Therefore, substantial questions of law do not appear to arise.

What were the facts?

The appeals by the Commissioner of Income Tax concern the taxability of cloud computing fees. The Revenue argued these fees should be taxed as royalty or fees for technical services.

What were the issues?

Whether fees for cloud computing services are taxable as royalty or fees for technical services under the relevant Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement.

Which sections of the Income-tax Act were involved?

N/A

AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below

Cases cited in this judgment(1)Show list

Detected automatically from the text. Citations are also linked where they appear in the judgment. The count shows how many other judgments on BharatTax rely on the same authority.

$~78 & 103 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI (78) + ITA 150/2025 & CM APPL. 29405/2025 THE COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX - INTERNATIONAL TAXATION -1

.....Appellant Through: Mr. Ruchir Bhatia, SSC with Mr. Anant Mann, JSC and Mr. Abhishek Anand, Advocate.

versus

AMAZON WEB SERVICES, INC

.....Respondent Through: Mr. Porus Kaka, Sr. Advocate with Mr. Rohit Jain, Mr. Aniket D. Agrawal, Mr. Manish Kanth, Ms. Manisha Sharma, Advocates.

(103) + ITA 154/2025 & CM APPL. 29646/2025 THE COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX - INTERNATIONAL TAXATION -1

.....Appellant Through: Mr. Ruchir Bhatia, SSC with Mr. Anant Mann, JSC and Mr. Abhishek Anand, Advocate.

versus

AMAZON WEB SERVICES, INC

.....Respondent Through: Mr. Porus Kaka, Sr. Advocate with Mr. Rohit Jain, Mr. Aniket D. Agrawal, Mr. Manish Kanth, Ms. Manisha Sharma, Advocates.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VIBHU BAKHRU

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE TEJAS KARIA

O R D E R %

15.05.2025

1.

It prima facie, appears that there are no substantial questions of law that arise in the present appeals as the issue as to whether the fees for cloud This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 27/03/2026 at 12:07:30

computing is taxable as royalty, fees for technical services or fees for included services in terms of the relevant double taxation avoidance agreement is covered in favour of the Assessee and against the Revenue by the decision of the Supreme Court in Engineering Analysis Centre of Excellence (P) Ltd. v. CIT : (2022) 3 SCC 321. 2. While Mr. Bhatia, the learned counsel for the Revenue, is unable to controvert the same, he requests for some accommodation. Mr. Kaka, the learned senior counsel appearing for the Assessee stoutly objects to the same. 3. Notwithstanding the above, we consider it apposite to reluctantly accede to Mr. Bhatia’s request. 4. List on 22.05.2025.

VIBHU BAKHRU, J

TEJAS KARIA, J MAY 15, 2025/sms

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This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 27/03/2026 at 12:07:30

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