Category: Thoughts
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2025 Didn’t Change the Law. It Changed the Mood
I was reflecting over the past year and realised that 2025 didn’t really give us any big tax shocks. No loud announcements, no dramatic changes. And yet, from where I sit, it quietly changed the way the system thinks and behaves. If you look at 2025 through headlines alone, it feels uneventful. No big rate…
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The Changing Face of Tax Management – Looking Back to Look Ahead
A few years ago, the life of a tax professional in India revolved around wild March evenings, Excel nightmares and endless reconciliations. TDS deadlines loomed large, GST mismatches haunted dreams and every unclear ledger entry felt like a ticking time bomb. Tax management was less about strategy and more about survival. It was always reactive,…
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Leveraging Technology to Manage Cross-Border Tax Risks
(Because apparently, life prefers Form 3CD over cockpit controls) Cross-border tax risks have always been a concern for multinational companies (MNCs), but as global business expands and tax regulations become more complex, these risks have increased dramatically. Managing tax compliance across multiple jurisdictions is no small task. For tax heads and CFOs, staying ahead of…
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Amazon Web Services (AWS) doesn’t just settle a tax dispute…..
Amazon Web Services (AWS) doesn’t just settle a tax dispute – it sets the tone for how we handle new-age technology within the limits of old-world tax laws. The Delhi High Court in this case asked a simple but powerful question: Does using a service hosted outside India mean the user is actually “using” foreign equipment…
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Is India Getting Tougher on Transfer Pricing After BEPS?
Over the past few years, how multinational companies are taxed has changed in big ways. One of the biggest changes came from the OECD’s BEPS project (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting), which aims to stop tax avoidance by making sure profits are taxed where real business happens. India has been quick to adopt these new…
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Cross-Border Structuring: Legal Lessons We Can’t Ignore
Just because your structure looks good on a PowerPoint slide, it may not necessarily sail through a tax or judicial scrutiny. Here are six common mistakes, we often make. 1. Mistaking Legal Presence for Commercial Substance Common Approach: Set up a company in Mauritius, Singapore, or Netherlands with no employees, no office, and no decision-making…
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India’s timely rollback of the Equalization Levy in a world of retaliatory tax threats
A few years ago, India took a strong position on taxing the digital economy. With global tech platforms earning significant revenue from Indian users—often without a physical presence—the government introduced the Equalization Levy. It began in 2016 with a 6% tax on online advertising revenues earned by non-resident entities. In 2020, this was expanded to…