Webinar

Recently, the Government of India and the Government of Mauritius signed a protocol for amending the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement between the two nations (Mauritius tax treaty). A Press Release summarising the amendments to the tax treaty was issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes on 10 May 2016.

As per the Press Release the Mauritius tax treaty has been amended to provide source-based taxation for capital gains.

As a fallout of the aforesaid amendment, the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement executed between India and Singapore would also get impacted as the exclusive taxing rights granted to the resident state under the said convention are co-terminus with the Mauritius tax treaty.

Girish Vanvari, Head of Tax, KPMG in India along with our senior tax partners shall share their perspective on the above amendments.

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Government of India furnished guidelines on foreign investment in e-commerce vide a Press note No. 3 (2016 series) dated 29 March 2016. Key features of these guidelines which are expected to affect the e-commerce landscape are:

• Providing explicit definitions of e-commerce, an e-commerce entity, inventory based model and marketplace model prevalent in e-commerce 
• Defining the areas in which foreign investment is allowed 
• Articulating the guidelines for marketplaces in which foreign investment can be brought in 

We at KPMG, frequently interact with regulators to seek clarifications on the changes brought out by the government.

Saumil Shah, Partner and Head, Private Equity Tax shall be sharing his perspective on the above policy change and also seek feedback from the attendees which shall be used to facilitate the discussions with regulator in order to seek further clarifications.

The Finance Act, 2015 amended the provisions of the Income-tax Act, 1961 to provide that a company will be treated as a tax resident in India, if it is an Indian company or its Place of Effective Management (POEM) is in India. POEM has been defined to mean a place where key management and commercial decisions that are necessary for the conduct of the business of an entity as a whole are, in substance, made.

The Memorandum explaining the provisions of the Finance Bill, 2015 stated that a set of guiding principles to be followed in the determination of POEM would be issued for the benefit of taxpayers as well as the tax administration. With a view to remove any ambiguity and provide objective criteria for determination of POEM, the Central Board of Direct Taxes has now issued draft guiding principles for the determination of POEM of a company. MNCs would need to closely analyse these guidelines to determine whether any of their overseas entities could have POEM in India, thereby exposing them to the Indian tax net.

We, at KPMG in India, are glad to organise a knowledge sharing webinar to discuss key aspects related to POEM and the draft guidelines prescribed by the CBDT and the likely implications thereof on MNCs. The discussion will be led by senior tax professionals. This webinar is intended to provide a direction to enable you to prepare for the changes and take proactive action, wherever required, to avoid overseas entities having POEM in India.

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