India Income Tax Appellate Tribunal Holds Payments for Cloud Hosting Services Not Taxable as Royalties Under Tax Treaty with the U.S.

The Mumbai Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) issued a decision on 29 January 2021 concerning whether payments received from India by a U.S. company for cloud hosting services are taxable as royalties and/or fees for technical services. The case involved a U.S. company, Rackspace U.S., Inc. Rackspace provides cloud hosting services and received income from customers in India, which the Indian assessing officer (AO) held was taxable income in India as royalties for the for use of or right to…