« 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 «  Electronic tax payment from October for high value payers... Cost inflation index pegged at 519... » MNCs may get to sign advance pricing pacts September, 23rd 2006 Tax authorities are exploring the feasibility of introducing an advance pricing arrangement (APA) to minimise transfer pricing disputes with multinational enterprises. APA is an agreement between the tax payer and the tax authority on the method to be used for pricing their future intra-group transactions. The tax department believes that APAs will be a useful method to mitigate unnecessary transfer pricing litigations, states the latest global transfer pricing survey by Ernst & Young. The input is based on a feedback from domestic tax authorities. Transfer pricing refers to the price charged by an MNC to an associated enterprise for supply of goods and services. Since transfer prices can be used to shift profits out of India and hence avoid taxes, the tax department has a regulation in place since 01 to check violations. The law mandates MNCs to price their transactions with associated enterprises according to the arms length principle. This means applying prices that independent enterprises would charge in identical transactions in the market place. Transfer pricing controversies are of significant concern for corporates in todays globalised economy and India is no exemption. Disputes are mounting as most MNCs are contesting demands raised by tax authorities here for alleged violation of transfer pricing norms. According to experts, APA provides legal certainty and stabilises the tax environment for MNCs. The programmes are designed to resolve actual or potential transfer pricing disputes in a co-operative manner. Many advanced countries have this mechanism and India is mulling over its introduction. APAs may be unilateral, bilateral or multilateral. MNCs have experienced two years of transfer pricing audits in India. Adjustments to the tune of $500m were made in for FY03. The audits focused mainly on companies with large transaction volumes. Currently, appeals are the only effective means of handling transfer pricing disputes, according to the 05-06 transfer pricing survey covering more than 30 countries. The key message of the survey is that tax authorities broadly agree on transfer pricing principles, but not transfer pricing practices. This means they adopt different approaches in the application of these principles. A host of new countries including China, Columbia, Israel and Turkey are coming into the transfer pricing enforcement field. Old guard such as Canada, New Zealand and UK with established transfer pricing regimes are making major changes in approach. There is evidence of increasing sophistication in data-gathering by tax authorities to augment enforcement efforts, says the survey. It states that transfer pricing will remain the most important international tax issue for MNCs.