On 6 October 2017, the Ministry of Finance issued a press release announcing that the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has signed two more advance pricing agreements (APAs) in September 2017 with Indian taxpayers.
These two latest APAs relate to automobile and healthcare consulting sectors. With the signing of these two Agreements, the total number of APAs entered into by CBDT till date has reached 177. This includes 164 Unilateral APAs and 13 Bilateral APAs. In the current financial year, a total of 25 APAs (2 Bilateral and 23 Unilateral) have been signed till date.
The main objective of APA scheme is to provide certainty to taxpayers in the domain of transfer pricing by specifying the methods of pricing and thereby reducing litigation.
