ONLINE DATABASE: TDS ON ROYALTY

Software companies are looking at additional tax burden,  with the Karnataka High Court ruling that payments made  for subscription to online databases, such as those maintained by advisory firms and industry information portals, would be taxed as royalty. The high court verdict came in a case involving Wipro and the income tax department, in which the court found Wipro to be in default of its obligations to withhold taxes on payments made to research firm Gartner, for accessing the latter's electronic database in the United States and Ireland.