Dear Siva
The statement of the shipowner that they are exempt from tax is not entirely correct. There is specific provision u/s 172 of the I T Act to assess “shipping business of non-residents”. However, there may be cases that income of foreign ship may not be taxable in India on account of Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement with the country of origin of the ship.
There are three provisions which are to be considered for deciding the issue whether the tax is to be deducted at source.
-
Section 172 provides for Assesement of profit of shipping business of non resident ;
-
Section 194C : deals with TDS on contract or sub-contract.Freight is one of them.
-
Section 195 : deals with TDS on any sum paid to non resident
Section 194C is definitely not applicable , because that provision applies only in case of residents . That leaves us Section 172 and section 195 . While section 172 is not related to TDS , the issue becomes simple if the TDS on freight payment to non resident shipping companies has to be made. The answer comes from following Board circular no 723 dated 19/9/1995 which clarifies that TDS should not be made in case of non resident shipping companies as they are being assessed u/s 172.