Duration test’ for determining existence of ‘Construction PE’ need to be applied independently for each contract executed

Recently Mumbai Income Tax Appellate Tribunal in the case of Valentine Maritime Mauritius Ltd. (Taxpayer), [2010-TIOL-195-ITAT-MUM] held that the number of days relating to each of the contracts cannot be aggregated to determine the ‘duration test’, as the activities carried out therein are not inextricably interconnected or interdependent and do not form a coherent whole in conjunction with each other. The ‘duration test’ would need to be applied independently for each contract executed, for determining a PE. In view of the fact that under each of the contracts, the time duration did ...