BRANCH METRICS INC vs DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX CIRCLE INTERNATIONAL TAX 1 1 2 NEW DELHI

Judgment text excerpt

$~107 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Date of Decision : 29.01.2026 + W.P.(C) 17222/2025, CM APPL. 70857/2025 BRANCH METRICS INC .....Petitioner Through: Mr. Sachit Jolly, Sr. Adv. with Ms. Mansha Anand, Mr. Sohum Dua, Mr. Abhyudaya Bajpyee, Ms. Manvi and Mr. Ghunain Siddiqui, Advs. versus DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX CIRCLE INTERNATIONAL TAX 1 1 2 NEW DELHI .....Respondent Through: Mr. Debesh Panda, SSC and Mr. Vikramaditya Singh, Ms. Zehra Khan, JSCs CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE DINESH MEHTA HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VINOD KUMAR JUDGMENT DINESH MEHTA, J. (ORAL) 1. By way of the instant writ petition, the petitioner has challenged order dated 02.05.2025 passed by the office of the Circle Income Tax 1(1)(2) (hereinafter referred to as ‘competent authority’) deciding petitioner’s application under Section 197 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act of 1961’) and consequential certificate dated 18.06.2025 whereby the respondent has required its counterpart in India to deduct tax at the rate of 15% on the payments made and credited to the petitioner. 2. The petitioner is engaged in the business of providing Software as a Service ('SaaS') based products/offerings which help its customers in W.P.(C) 17222/2025 Page 1 of 6 Signature Not Verified Signed By:PRAMOD KUMAR VATS Signing Date:05.02.2026 11:38:38 generating links which can be used to share content over social media, provide links to apps on app-store, links to websites in e-mails, etc. The customers can also obtain a report (strictly for internal use purpose) in order to determine the effectiveness of the petitioner’s products. These products are directly provided to Indian customers under a contract/End User License Agreement (‘EULA’) and an order form between Indian customers and t