Transfer Pricing Services in India | Savlana Init

Transfer Pricing · Services

Transfer Pricing Services — Planned, Documented, Defended.

Policy design before the year, benchmarking and Form 3CEB during it, and representation when the Transfer Pricing Officer asks. The same team across all three, so nothing contradicts.

Transfer pricing work divides into three phases that most organisations treat as unrelated, which is precisely why they fail. Planning happens before the year: how intra-group services, royalties, funding and goods flows will be priced, what the intercompany agreements will say, and what functional profile each entity will carry. Compliance happens during and after: benchmarking, the entity-level documentation under Rule 10D, the accountant’s report in Form 3CEB, and the Master File and Country-by-Country filings where thresholds are crossed. Controversy happens later: the Transfer Pricing Officer’s reference, the draft order, and the objection or appeal that follows.

The three phases must tell the same story. An assessment file that describes the Indian entity as a routine service provider will not survive if the intercompany agreement gives it entrepreneurial risk, or if the group’s Country-by-Country report allocates significant profit to it, or if the local benchmarking uses full-fledged comparables. Transfer Pricing Officers now read all of these together, and the Country-by-Country data gives them a global view they did not previously have. Inconsistency between the agreement, the study and the group filings is one of the most common triggers for adjustment, and it is entirely avoidable.

The deadlines are tight and separate. The accountant’s report in Form 3CEB is due by the last day of October, one month before the extended return due date that applies to taxpayers with international transactions. The Master File in Form 3CEAA and the intimation in Form 3CEAB have their own dates, as do the Country-by-Country notification in Form 3CEAC and the report in Form 3CEAD. Failure to furnish Form 3CEB attracts penalty under Section 271BA independently of whether the pricing was correct, and documentation failures attract penalty under Section 271AA. We handle the full cycle in one engagement so the phases stay aligned.

Our Transfer Pricing Services

Transfer Pricing Policy Design

Design of intra-group pricing for goods, services, royalties, funding and guarantees, with intercompany agreements drafted to match the intended profile.

Benchmarking and Study

Functional analysis, method selection, comparable search and margin computation, documented to Rule 10D standard for each covered transaction.

Form 3CEB Certification

Preparation and filing of the accountant’s report under Section 92E, with complete transaction reporting and consistent method disclosure.

Master File and CbCR

Forms 3CEAA, 3CEAB, 3CEAC, 3CEAD and 3CEAE where the group crosses the prescribed revenue and transaction thresholds.

Safe Harbour Compliance

Evaluation, election and Form 3CEFA filing under the safe harbour rules, with the margin cost quantified against the certainty gained.

Advance Pricing Agreements

Pre-filing consultation, application, negotiation and annual compliance reporting for unilateral and bilateral agreements, including rollback.

TPO Assessment Representation

Response to Section 92CA notices and information requisitions, and representation through the transfer pricing assessment to the draft order.

Dispute and Appeal Support

Objections before the Dispute Resolution Panel, appeals before the Tribunal, and mutual agreement procedure applications under the treaty.

Our Process

Scoping and Structure Review

We map group entities, transaction flows and existing agreements, and identify every covered transaction and reporting obligation for the year.

Functional Analysis

Functions, assets and risks are documented entity by entity, which fixes the characterisation the rest of the file must be consistent with.

Benchmarking and Documentation

Comparables are searched and screened, the arm’s length range is computed, and the Rule 10D documentation set is assembled.

Reporting and Filing

Form 3CEB, the Master File and Country-by-Country filings are prepared and filed against their separate deadlines.

Defence and Follow-Through

Where the case is referred to a Transfer Pricing Officer, we represent it, and carry the same position through objections and appeal.

Why It Matters

✓Policy, documentation and group filings that tell one consistent story

✓Intercompany agreements drafted to match the functional profile claimed

✓Form 3CEB filed on time, avoiding penalty regardless of pricing outcome

✓Master File and CbCR thresholds tracked, not discovered late

✓Safe harbour cost quantified before it is elected

✓APA pursued where recurring transactions justify multi-year certainty

✓Representation by the team that prepared the study, not a stranger to it

✓One engagement across planning, compliance and controversy

Frequently Asked Questions

The accountant’s report under Section 92E is due by 31 October following the financial year, one month before the extended return filing due date of 30 November that applies to taxpayers with international transactions. Failure to furnish the report attracts penalty under Section 271BA irrespective of whether any adjustment is ultimately made, so the date should be treated as absolute.

Where the international group’s consolidated revenue for the preceding accounting year exceeds the prescribed threshold and the Indian entity’s aggregate international transactions, or its transactions in intangible property, exceed their own thresholds. Form 3CEAA is then required, with Form 3CEAB filed in advance where one of several Indian constituent entities is designated to file on behalf of the others.

The obligation falls on the parent entity of an international group whose consolidated revenue exceeds the prescribed threshold, or on an alternate reporting entity, with Form 3CEAD used for the report. Every Indian constituent entity of such a group must additionally notify in Form 3CEAC the identity and residence of the entity that will file the report, within the prescribed period before the report is due.

Under Section 92CA the assessing officer may refer the determination of arm’s length price to a Transfer Pricing Officer, who issues notices, calls for documentation and passes an order determining the price. That order is binding on the assessing officer, who incorporates it into a draft assessment order. The taxpayer then chooses between objecting before the Dispute Resolution Panel and awaiting the final order to appeal.

Not by structuring alone, but exposure can be reduced substantially. Contemporaneous documentation prepared before the filing date, agreements consistent with actual conduct, benchmarking using reliable and current comparables, and either safe harbour or an advance pricing agreement where the facts suit them, together account for the difference between a routine assessment and a contested one.

Section 271BA imposes penalty for failure to furnish the accountant’s report. Section 271AA imposes penalty for failure to keep and maintain prescribed documentation, for failure to report a transaction, or for maintaining incorrect information, and a further penalty applies for failure to furnish the Master File or Country-by-Country report. Section 271G applies where documentation called for is not furnished. These are independent of any adjustment and of tax on it.

Need transfer pricing handled end to end?

Tell us your group structure, transaction flows and filing history. We will scope the obligations, build the documentation and stay with the file through assessment and appeal.