Finance Ministry notifies rollback rules for transfer pricing cases

Move could provide tax certainty for nine year period including four prior years, say consultants

The Finance Ministry on Monday notified the Advance Pricing Agreement (APA) rules governing rollback provisions in transfer pricing cases. Though the provisions were announced in Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s maiden Budget in July 2014, they could not be activated because the rules were not codified. Consultants said the move could have an impact on cases such as Cairn Energy. 

“This is a welcome move which will provide certainty to tax payers for their four prior tax years and in all provide certainty for 9 year i.e. 5 prospective years and 4 prior years,” said Samir Gandhi, Partner, Deloitte Haskins and Sells LLP. 

He added that a company could opt for rollback provisions only with respect to same international transactions covered in the forward looking agreement. “Taxpayers who have already filed an APA application or have already entered into an agreement prior to 1 January, 2015, need to ensure that they file the rollback application in proposed form 3CEDA by 31 March, 2015,” Gandhi said. 

Additionally, even for applicants entering into an APA for FY15-16 onwards, the rollback application in Form 3CEDA will have to be filed by March 31, 2015, along with the forward looking APA application in Form 3CED. 

Applicants who opt for rollback will need to pay an additional Rs 5 lakh in fees. 

As far as bilateral and unilateral option for rollback is concerned, it will follow the forward-looking APAs, in that if the forward looking is bilateral, the rollback will also be bilateral. Similarly, where the forward-looking APA is unilateral, the rollback years will also be unilateral.

Now with experience of 3 years APA filing, the pre-filing consultation which was earlier mandatory has been made optional for the taxpayer going forward, consultants said.