International Taxation
Treaty analysis, accountant's certification on foreign remittances, transfer pricing, non-resident taxation, FEMA reporting.
Cross-border work turns on a few questions asked in the right order. Is the income taxable in India at all? Does a treaty reduce the liability? What must be withheld before the money leaves? What must be reported to the Reserve Bank of India afterwards?
The order matters because the cost of getting it wrong falls in India. Tax not withheld on a remittance is recovered from the remitter, not the recipient. A treaty benefit claimed without a tax residency certificate, the prescribed treaty declaration and a permanent-establishment declaration will not survive a query.
Exchange control runs alongside, on its own dates. An inbound investment, an overseas subsidiary, a borrowing and the annual return on foreign liabilities and assets each carry a filing under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999.
Whose obligation this usually is.
- Indian companies making foreign payments Withholding on royalty, technical services, interest, software and management charges, and the certification a bank asks for.
- Subsidiaries of foreign groups Transfer pricing on intra-group transactions, the accountant's report the Act requires, and FEMA reporting on the shareholding.
- Non-residents and returning Indians Residential status, what India may tax, property and investments held here, and repatriation.
- Foreign businesses entering India The choice between a subsidiary, branch, project office and liaison office, each with a different consequence.
Services with a full page.
Cross-border transaction advisory and DTAA analysis
Read moreWithholding tax on foreign remittances
Remittance certification by an accountant, on the treaty position.
Read moreTransfer pricing study and documentation
The accountant's report on international transactions.
Read moreNon-resident and NRI taxation
Residential status, withholding on remittances, repatriation, and treaty residence certification.
Read moreInbound entry structuring
Subsidiary, branch, liaison and project offices.
Read moreFEMA advisory and RBI reporting
FC-GPR, FC-TRS, FLA, ODI and ECB.
Read moreWhat usually starts a file.
A bank has asked for Form 15CB before it will process a remittance.
A foreign parent has begun charging management, royalty or IT cost to the Indian entity.
A non-resident is selling Indian property and the buyer must decide what to withhold.
An employee is being seconded into or out of India for a period that changes their residence.
How this practice runs a file.
Taxability before rate
Whether India can tax the income is settled before the rate, because a payment outside the charge needs no rate at all.
Treaty documents first
The residency certificate, the prescribed treaty declaration and the permanent-establishment declaration are obtained before the benefit is applied.
Tax and FEMA together
A transaction is read against both the tax position and the exchange-control reporting, which answer to different authorities.
Documented to be defended
Benchmarking searches, accept-reject records and position notes are kept to answer a query several years later.
The law this work sits under.
Sections, forms and limits change by amendment and notification. We work from the provision in force for your period.
- Income-tax Act, 2025
- Residence, the income India may tax, withholding on payments to non-residents, and transfer pricing.
- Double taxation avoidance agreements
- The treaty with the recipient's country, read with the commentaries Indian courts rely on, which can reduce or remove a liability.
- Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999
- Inbound and outbound investment, borrowing, and the reporting the Reserve Bank of India requires.
The rest of what this covers.
Master File and Country-by-Country Reporting
Master File and Country-by-Country notification and reporting.
Permanent establishment and business-connection analysis
Expatriate taxation and secondment structuring
Including tax equalisation.
Outbound investment and holding-company structuring
Advance rulings and treaty dispute resolution
Including Mutual Agreement Procedure.
Where this connects.
Cross-border files land back in the domestic practices — a withholding certificate belongs to the same quarterly statement, and an inbound entity still has Registrar filings to make.