CBDT inks 300th advance pricing agreement

The government on Tuesday said it has signed the 300th advance pricing agreement during September in various sectors like retail, garment and consumer foods. The APA scheme provides tax certainty to multi-national enterprises and is in line with government's commitment towards fostering a non-adversarial tax regime.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) signed the 300th advance pricing agreement (APA) in September, 2019, an official statement said. This is a significant landmark of India's APA Programme, which is currently in its seventh year, it added.

Three APAs were entered into in September (two unilateral and one bilateral), which has taken the total number of APAs signed by CBDT to 300. These APAs pertain to various sectors of the economy like retail, garments, and consumer foods. The bilateral APA signed in September, 2019 pertains to United Kingdom.

During the ongoing fiscal, the total number of APAs entered into has gone up to 29 (27 unilateral and two bilateral). The international transactions covered in these agreements include provision of software development services, contract manufacturing, provision of IT enabled services and support services, it said further.