Posts

Showing posts from July, 2010

Vodafone Controversy: An Introduction

One of the most controversial areas in taxation under the Indian Income Tax Act, 1961 (“the Act”) in recent days has been the Vodafone tax controversy. Several important questions of law in the area of taxation of non-residents – pertaining to both chargeability and machinery provisions – are at issue in the Vodafone controversy. The Bombay High Court in its recent judgment in  Vodafone has commented on the merits of some of these issues (please see  Vodafone International Holdings BV  v.  Union  of  India , WP No. 2550 of 2007 (Bombay High Court) . The case provides a useful backdrop for anchoring the theoretical arguments on the taxation of non-residents. For a detailed discussion of the theoretical arguments, reference may be made to  Geoffrey Loomer, ‘The Vodafone Essar Dispute’ (2009) 21 (1)  National   Law   School  of India Review 89.  In the following couple of posts, I will look at the various arguments on both sides of the debate. In this introductory post, I will only briefl