Case Study on INDO USA DTAA

Abstract

In 2013-14 BHEL was dragged into an international arbitration case raised by a Russian collaborator on a contractual dispute. For this both side had to engage independent Technical witness since the case involved complex technical interpretations. BHEL engaged an expert technical witness based in USA and as per the agreement with him a very substantial fees was paid to him for the same.

The issue, as detailed under this article, involved the question of TDS on remittance of fees and other reimbursements to this expert and fine interpretations of the various articles of the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with USA guided by the related case laws.