« Top Headlines » Open DEMAT Account in 24 hrs  Delhi HC Rules GST Registration Cannot Be Cancelled Retrospectively Without a Clear Show Cause Notice (SCN)  Belated income tax return AY 2026-27: How to file, late filing charges and what you may lose  Major Financial Changes from August 1, 2026: ITR Deadline, RBI MPC Meeting, Tatkal Ticket Rules & More  Government proposes to ease tax relief conditions for offshore funds  TallyPrime Connected Banking: Automating Banking and Accounting  ITR Filing Deadline 2026: Is July 31 the Last Date to File Your Income Tax Return? Latest Official Update  ITR filing deadline nears: How to file income tax return online on e-filing portal - quick 15-step guide  Will the ITR Filing Deadline Be Extended Beyond July 31 for FY 2025-26? Here's the Latest Update for Taxpayers  Income Tax Refund Delayed for AY 2026-27? 5 Common Reasons Your Refund May Be Stuck and How to Fix It  ITR Filing 2026: FM Nirmala Sitharaman Asks Tax Officials to Let Honest Taxpayers Correct Genuine Mistakes  Will Your FCNR Deposit Stay Tax-Free After Returning to India? Tax Rules Explained for NRIs «  Pitfalls of hurried imposition of service tax... Faster delivery of I-T refunds in more cities... » Transfer pricing regime to cover all Rs 5 cr-plus deals July, 13th 2007 All cross-border transactions worth Rs 5 crore or more will come under the scrutiny of the transfer pricing regime, even if there is no prima facie reason to suspect tax evasion /avoidance. This ruling by a specially formed five-member bench of the Income-Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) is critical to Indias fledgling transfer pricing regime. Any other decision would have rendered all transfer pricing orders given out until now completely invalid. Normally, all cross-border transactions of Rs 5 crore or more were referred to the transfer pricing officer (TP). The issue of prima facie evidence as a prerequisite for referring the case to a TP officer arose when a Bangalore-based software company Aztec Software & Technology challenged the practice of referring such transactions mandatorily to the TP officer. The company insisted the assessing officer had no reason to refer the matter to TP officer as the assessing officer could not provide any evidence of a possible tax evasion by Aztec. The Commissioner (Appeal) upheld this and gave reasons to support his stand including the intention of the legislature. According to the commissioner an element of tax avoidance is a prerequisite for bringing the cross-border taxation under the scrutiny of the transfer pricing regime. But ITAT has now ruled that the threshold limit of Rs 5 crore fixed by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) should hold for referring all cases to the TP officer. In its order the ITAT also held that TP assessments can be made even in cases of tax exempt units. It also said the industry average is not sufficient to arrive at the arms length price. The arms length price should be arrived at in more convincing ways. The ITAT also underscored that the TP officer must record all the facts and reasons of his decision in the TP order. This is for the benefit of the adjudicating authorities. The path-breaking order that paved way for the continuation of the existing mode of transfer pricing assessment was made by the bench comprising Pramod Kumar, KC Singhal, Vimal Gandhi (President ITAT) NL Kalra and Sudhakar Reddy. TP Ostwal, member of the Transfer Pricing Committee that drafted Indias TP Rules, said: The order stands for continuity. The tax authorities embarked upon the rare exercise of setting up a five-member Special Bench of ITAT after the Commissioner (Appeal), made a decision, which not only questioned the prevailing practise, but also the spirit of the CBDT circular, which instructed officers to refer all cross-border transactions above Rs 5 crore to the TP officer.