PR COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX - 2 vs. M/S IMS HEALTH ANALYTICS SERVICES PVT LTD

PR. COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX - 2 BMTC COMPLEX, KORAMANGALA, BANGALORE.

THE ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX OFFICER CIRCLE 3(1)(4), BMTC COMPLEX, KORMANGALA, BENGALURU. …APPELLANTS (BY SRI. SANMATHI E. I., ADV.)

The Revenue is in appeal under Section 260-A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (for short, ‘the Act’) questioning the correctness and legality of order dated 04.09.2020 passed by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, ‘A’ Bench, Bengaluru (for short, ‘Appellate Authority’) in

Whether on the facts and circumstances of the case and in law, the Tribunal is right in law in excluding comparable's such as M/s.Genesis International Sefvices, M/s. Persistent Systems Ltd and M/s. L & T ignoring the parameters of analysis prescribed under Rule 10B, which are exhaustive and, if so, whether it is legally permissible to bypass the same partially or by implication?

Whether on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal's order can be said as perverse since Tribunal has excluded comparable's without going into reasons assigned by Transfer Pricing Officer and as such order passed by Tribunal is perverse in nature?

Whether on the facts and circumstances of the case and in law, Tribunal's order can be said as perverse in nature as Tribunal has directed Transfer Pricing Officer to exclude M/s.Infosys

Whether on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal is right in law in directing Transfer Pricing Officer to exclude comparable's when TPO has satisfied all required tests set out in Rule 10B and as such, the order passed by Tribunal is perverse as Tribunal has ignored the materials brought on record by TPO?”

Learned counsel for the assessee submits that the tax effect in this appeal is less than Rs.2 Crores and therefore, the appeal should not be entertained at the instance of the revenue in view of the Circular No.09/2024 dated 17.09.2024 issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes. It is also submitted that the aforesaid Circular binds the revenue.

On the other hand, learned counsel for the revenue submits that he be granted liberty to revive the appeal in case the matter falls within the exceptions under the aforesaid Circular dated 17.09.2024 and Circular No.5/2024 dated 15.03.2024.

In view of the aforesaid submissions, the appeal is disposed of with liberty as prayed for by the learned counsel for the revenue. However, the question of law is kept open to be adjudicated in an appropriate proceeding.