The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has signed seven more advance pricing agreements (APAs) with Indian taxpayers as it looks to reduce litigation by providing certainty in transfer pricing.

The seven APAs signed over the last month pertain to sectors like FMCG, semi-conductor, information technology, travel and leisure, office furniture and engineering.

“The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has entered into seven more Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) during October 2017. All these agreements are unilateral,” the CBDT said in a statement.

With the signing of these agreements, the total number of APAs entered into by the CBDT has gone up to 184, which includes 171 unilateral and 13 bilateral APAs.

In 2017-18, a total of 32 APAs (2 bilateral and 30 unilateral) have been signed till date.

The APA scheme was introduced in the Income-Tax Act in 2012 and the ‘Rollback’ provision in 2014.

The scheme aims to provide certainty to taxpayers in the domain of transfer pricing by specifying methods of pricing and setting the prices of international transactions in advance.

According to the statement, the progress of the APA scheme strengthens the government’s resolve of fostering a non-adversarial tax regime. The Indian APA programme has been appreciated nationally and internationally for being able to address complex transfer pricing issues in a fair and transparent manner.