Action by the Competent Authority of India and procedure for giving effect to the decision under the agreement.

44H. (1) Where a reference has been received from the competent authority of a country outside India under any agreement with that country with regard to any action taken by any income-tax authority in India, the Competent Authority in India shall call for and examine the relevant records with a view to give his response to the competent authority of the country outside India.

(2) The Competent Authority in India shall endeavour to arrive at a resolution of the case in accordance with such agreement.

(3) The resolution arrived at under mutual agreement procedure, in consultation with the competent authority of the country outside India, shall be communicated, wherever necessary, to the Chief Commissioner or the Director-General of Income-tax, as the case may be, in writing.

(4) The effect to the resolution arrived at under mutual agreement procedure shall be given by the Assessing Officer within ninety days of receipt of the same by the Chief Commissioner or the Director-General of Income-tax, if the assessee,

           (i)  gives his acceptance to the resolution taken under mutual agreement procedure; and

          (ii)  withdraws his appeal, if any, pending on the issue which was the subject matter for adjudication under mutual agreement procedure.

(5) The amount of tax, interest or penalty already determined shall be adjusted after incorporating the decision taken under mutual agreement procedure in the manner provided under the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961), or the rules made thereunder to the extent that they are not contrary to the resolution arrived at.

Explanation.For the purposes of rules 44G and 44H, Competent Authority of India shall mean an officer authorised by the Central Government for the purposes of discharging the functions as such.]