« Top Headlines » Open DEMAT Account in 24 hrs  Mock Test Papers Series - I & II for Students appearing in CA Foundation January 2027 Examination.  Income Tax Rules 2026: CBDT Introduces Revised Form 161 for Penalty Waiver, Clarifies Misreporting Categories and Taxpayer Relief  ITR Filing and Income Tax Audit Deadline Extended: 5 Critical Things Taxpayers Must Know  Filing Belated ITR for AY 2026-27? Know Which Losses You Can Carry Forward and Which You May Lose  CBDT Extends Tax Audit Report Deadline to October 21, ITR Filing Last Date to November 21 for AY 2026-27  CBDT Extends AY 2026-27 ITR Filing Deadline for Tax-Audit Cases: New Dates and Key Compliance Details  Foreign Assets Missing From Your ITR? Income Tax Department Opens One-Time Disclosure Window  Tax Audit Deadline September 30: Why AIS, TDS and GST Figures May Not Match Your ITR and What Taxpayers Should Do  Tax audit deadline September 30: Common mistakes taxpayers should avoid  Your ITR says ‘verified’, but the refund hasn’t arrived? 5 reasons why your money could be stuck  Missed the ITR Deadline but TDS Refund Is Due? Here’s How You Can Still Claim Your Money «  Auto hubs to lay hands on fiscal sops... Auto industry seeks tax holiday, export sops... » Chartering foreign ship? Get ready to pay tax here September, 08th 2006 In an order that will have a bearing on all corporates who charter ships for a certain period, a Chennai bench of the income-tax tribunal has held that a ship is an equipment and hence payment for chartering a foreign ship could be construed as royalty and, therefore, taxable in India. The order by the division bench of Income-tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Chennai, comprising MK Chaturvedi and KD Ranjan, was in the case of Poompuhar Shipping Corporation, a Tamil Nadu government undertaking. It charters vessels from India and abroad to transport coal for the state electricity board. The shipping company did not deduct tax while remitting the payments for the charter of foreign ships. The I-T department took a stand that the shipping company should have deducted tax while making remittance. In a rather controversial order the ITAT upheld the I-T departments stand on the issue. According to TP Ostwal, a senior chartered accountant, This order will generate a debate on the interpretation of the concept of royalty. The crux of the argument between the department and the shipping company was that the payment for chartering ships amounted to royalty, which under the provisions of the Income Tax Act, is liable to be taxed. In order to treat such remittance as royalty payment, the ship should be construed as equipment because royalty has been defined as the consideration for the use of or right to use any industrial or commercial or scientific equipment. Therefore, the shipping company argued that time charter of ships is not a contract for hiring an equipment effecting such liability under Section 9 (I) (vi) of the I-T Act. Since a ship cannot be construed as an equipment, liability to deduct tax at source does not arise, said the shipping company. The ITAT, after examining several definitions for the term equipment, observed that the term has various shades of meaning. It said, Lifeboat is equipment qua the ship. Ship is equipment qua the business. Equipment denotes things that are needed for a particular purpose or activity. In the present case we find that the asssessee is in the shipping business and in the context of the business of the assessee, ship can be construed to be an equipment in business. Besides, the ITAT also observed that the two berths, exclusively kept under lease for ships chartered by the shipping company, could be treated as permanent establishment. A PE is always a base for levying tax on an entity, and hence the transaction under question is taxable in India.