GAAR (Including other Anti-Avoidance Provisions) – A Compendium-Volume 1 & Volume 2

Year: Nov 2018

GAAR has been made applicable in India w.e.f. financial year 2017-18 as part of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (the Act). The need for GAAR was felt as the existing Specific Anti-Avoidance Regulations (SAAR) such as transfer pricing, disallowance of unreasonable payments to related parties, deemed income u/s. 9 of the Act, etc. were not sufficient to deal with impermissible tax avoidance. The underlying principle of GAAR is “substance over form”. GAAR strikes at the root of any transaction whereunder every arrangement or transaction is put to the test of “tax benefit”. GAAR provisions give wide powers to the assessing officers including recharacterization of income/transactions, rejection of arrangement or transactions, disallowances, penalties and so on.

To explain the provisions of Indian GAAR in depth with suitable illustrations, case studies as well as to understand the interplay between SAAR, GAAR and other anti-avoidance provisions, BCAS decided to publish a Compendium on the subject covering GAAR and other anti-avoidance provisions. The publication is divided into two volumes: Volume 1 deals with various aspects of GAAR, SAAR, their interplay and cross-border structures and Volume 2 deals with anti-avoidance provisions in other statutes, exchange of information, issues concerning board of directors in relation to GAAR, Foreign Jurisprudence on GAAR, precautionary measures for professionals in the matter of advising clients and comparative study of GAAR in different jurisdictions, etc.