Times
of India: Mumbai: Thursday, 30 July 2015.
The identity of taxpayers who opt for an advance
pricing agreement (APA) in the field of transfer pricing will continue to
remain confidential. Such information cannot be made available under the
provisions of the Right to Information Act (RTI), according to the Central
Information Commission (CIC).
However, responding to a second appeal filed by
RTI activist Venkatesh Nayak, information relating to the estimated amount of
transactions covered by each of the first five APAs entered into by India and
the functional currencies relating to these transactions was made available.
These transactions in aggregate amounted to Rs 10,819 crore and the related
currencies included the euro and the US dollar.
The CIC order also pointed out that the annual tax
revenue likely to be earned by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) as a
result of these APAs cannot be forecasted. "Tax is a functional derivative
of the total profits and gains from business of a company, whereas the APA is
towards determining the profit margin of certain transactions only," it
explained.
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