Permissibility to claim Benefits partly under the DTAA i.e. the Treaty and the Indian Income Tax Act in the same Assessment Year – A Plausible Fallacy?

By Ms. Shriya Maini*

PREFACE

This is one of my earlier writings from law school and hence, it is straight from the heart. I must admit that I was rather hesitant to share this draft for it might at the outset, appear a bit sketchy and rough. However, I have chosen to keep the draft just as it was prepared to not take away from the invaluable analysis and legal research that was contributed by my Nani Palkhiwala mooting teammates and my late grandfather. Perhaps, that’s why this draft is even more special. Diving straight into the technical aspects of this draft, I aim to answer the question: “Can an Assessee opt for the same assessment year to be governed by the provisions of the Act in so far as assessment of one type of income is concerned but by the provisions of the Agreement in so far as another type of income is earned due to the widely worded language of section 90(2) of the Act hauling the language read as – “to the extent that the provisions thereof are more beneficial to the Assessee”?