India: Taxpayer could not be treated as partial tax resident under Kazakhstan treaty (tribunal decision)
Under tie-breaker rule of treaty, taxpayer was treated as resident of Kazakhstan.
The Income-tax Appellate Tribunal (Bangalore Bench) held that under the tie-breaker rule of the India-Kazakhstan income tax treaty, the taxpayer was a tax resident of Kazakhstan, and reiterated that the Income-tax Act, 1961 does not recognize partial residential status during a financial year.
Accordingly, the taxpayer’s salary income from employment in Kazakhstan was not taxable in India, and India-sourced interest income was taxable at the beneficial 10% rate under the treaty.
In addition, although the treaty did not apply to the taxpayer’s rental income from property located in UK or dividend income from investments made in the Netherlands, the taxpayer’s rental income was not taxable in India under the India–UK income tax treaty, and the taxation of the taxpayer dividend income was remanded for fresh adjudication.
The case is: Pradeep Narasimhan v. ITO (ITA No. 1414/Bang/2025)
Read an April 2026 report prepared by the KPMG member firm in India