The alternative dispute resolution mechanisms – Advance Pricing Agreement (APA) and Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP) have been a game changer in the Indian transfer pricing litigation scenario.

The APA programme in India, introduced a decade ago, successfully caught the attention of MNE taxpayers, and has been a distinctive achievement for the Indian Revenue authorities in terms of concluded applications. The programme has also had its fair share of challenges, including issues in negotiations on both unilateral as well as bilateral APAs.

The MAP programme is intended to resolve double taxation that could arise from transfer pricing adjustments or other tax cases such as attribution of profits to permanent establishment. The programme, that has been a subject of peer review under the aegis of the OECD, has also witnessed many bilateral conclusions over the past about 24 months.

Hear the perspective of the Indian Revenue authorities from Sobhan Kar who was with the Indian Revenue Services for more than 20 years before recently joining Deloitte India. Sobhan was instrumental in setting-up of the APA programme in India and was a part of Indian Competent Authority team as Director (APA).

We will cover the following major aspects and challenges faced by taxpayers and decipher the tax authorities’ views/approaches on these.

• Evolution of the APA programme over the last decade
• Impact on transfer pricing litigation scenario
• Post APA compliances
• Impact of COVID-19 on negotiations and approach of tax authorities
• MAP resolutions – MNEs’ view and tax authorities’ approach
• Way-forward on APA / MAP as an effective alternate dispute resolution mechanism