What is the India–Ukraine treaty withholding rate on royalties and fees for technical services?

Royalty: 10% of the gross amount — Article 12 (Royalties and fees for technical services), read with Art 12(2) for the rate and Art 12(3) for the definition, India–Ukraine DTAA (as amended through 20 Aug 2026). Equipment-use royalties sit inside the royalty definition and take the same 10%. FTS: 10% — Article 12 (same article as royalties) — rate in Art 12(2), definition in Art 12(4). Gate: the treaty rate applies only through s.393(2) Sl. No. 17 → s.2(90)(c) with the s.159(8) TRC + Form 10F gate met; domestic comparator 20% + surcharge/cess (s.207(2)). Notes: FUSED ARTICLE, SINGLE RATE: royalties and FTS share one Article 12 and one 10% cap. Do not carry over India–US intuitions here — the India–US general royalty/FIS rate is 15% under Art 12(2)(a)(ii) with 10% reserved for the equipment lane in Art 12(2)(b); India–Ukraine has no such split at all.; EQUIPMENT LIMB PRESENT BUT NOT SEPARATELY RATED: 'industrial, commercial or scientific equipment' sits inside the Art 12(3) royalty definition, so equipment hire is a royalty at 10%. equipment_treatment = same_as_general (a limb that exists and is taxed identically) — this is the OPPOSITE of limb_absent, and must not be recorded as blank.; NO MAKE-AVAILABLE: the FTS definition in Art 12(4) is a bare 'managerial, technical or consultative' test. Indian revenue authorities can and do assert FTS on pure consultancy. There is no treaty route to a make-available defence.; BROADEST-FORM FTS WITH MINIMAL CARVE-OUTS: the only exclusion in Art 12(4) is payments to an employee of the payer. Unlike many Indian treaties there is no exclusion for income covered by Art 14 (independent personal services) or Art 15, and no construction/mining carve-out. Note the interaction with Art 12(5), which cedes to Art 7 or Art 14 only where the right/property/contract is effectively connected with a PE or fixed base.; TREATY-LEVEL ANTI-ABUSE INSIDE ARTICLE 12: Art 12(8) is a main-purpose test specific to royalties/FTS ('if it is the main purposes or one of the main purposes of person concerned with the creation or transfer of the rights or rendering of services ... to take advantage of this Article'). This operates IN ADDITION to the MLI Art 7 PPT. A conduit/assignment structure faces two independent anti-abuse tests.; MLI ENTRY-INTO-EFFECT GATE (India-specific): India made the Art 35(7)(a) reservation; Ukraine did not. MLI provisions therefore take effect for this CTA only 30 days after the Depositary receives India's notification that its internal procedures are complete. India separately takes the position that a domestic s.90(1) notification is needed to give MLI provisions effect in Indian law. Confirm the current OECD depositary status and the corresponding CBDT notification before relying on (or defending against) the PPT on this corridor. This gate does not affect the 10% Art 12 rates, which have applied since 2001.; SUPERSEDED-TREATY TRAP: the Convention contains NO express supersession or termination clause for the India–USSR DTAA of 1988, which was the reference instrument for Soviet successor States before bilateral treaties were concluded. Articles 30 and 31 deal only with entry into force and prospective termination. Any analysis of Indian-source income arising to a Ukrainian resident before 31-10-2001 (or, on Indian effective-date rules, before the relevant previous year) must be run against the India–USSR instrument, not this one. Note also that Article 30's Ukraine-side effective-date rules are payment-date driven ('60th day after entry into force') while the India side is previous-year driven — the two sides do not switch on together.; DOMESTIC-LAW SPREAD IS LARGE: India's domestic royalty/FTS rate for non-residents was raised from 10% to 20% (plus surcharge and cess) with effect from FY 2023-24, so the 10% treaty rate is now a material benefit and will be scrutinised. Access requires a TRC plus Form 10F plus beneficial ownership (Art 12(2) is a beneficial-owner clause). Absent a PAN, the s.206AA gross-up (s.397(2) under the renumbered Act) is a live exposure..