notification no.154/2025 f. no. 504/6/2004 so ftd ii 2 / g.s.r. 789 e income tax

MINISTRY OF FINANCE
(Department of Revenue)
NOTIFICATION
New Delhi, the 24th October, 2025
(Income-Tax)

G.S.R. 789(E).—Whereas, the Agreement and Protocol between the Republic of India and the State of Qatar for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income, was signed at New Delhi on the 18th day of February, 2025;

And whereas, the said Agreement and Protocol entered into force on the 10th day of September, 2025 in accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 30 of the said Agreement and Protocol;

And whereas, paragraph 3 of Article 30 of the said Agreement and Protocol provides that the provisions of the Agreement and Protocol shall have effect in India in respect of income arising on or after first day of the fiscal year immediately following the calendar year in which the Agreement and Protocol enter into force;

Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 90 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961), the Central Government hereby directs that all the provisions of the Agreement and Protocol as annexed hereto, shall be given effect to in the Union of India.

ANNEXURE

AGREEMENT BETWEEN

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDIA

AND

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE STATE OF QATAR

FOR THE AVOIDANCE OF DOUBLE TAXATION AND FOR THE PREVENTION

OF FISCAL EVASION WITH RESPECT TO TAXES ON INCOME

The Government of the Republic of India and the Government of the State of Qatar, desiring to conclude an Agreement for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income and with a view to promoting economic cooperation between the two countries,

intending to eliminate double taxation with respect to the taxes covered by this Agreement without creating opportunities for non-taxation or reduced taxation through tax evasion or avoidance (including through treaty-shopping arrangements aimed at obtaining reliefs provided in this agreement for the indirect benefit of residents of third jurisdictions);

have agreed as follows:

Article 1
PERSONS COVERED

1. This Agreement shall apply to persons who are residents of one or both of the Contracting States.

2. For the purposes of this Agreement, income derived by or through an entity or arrangement that is established in either Contracting State and that is treated as wholly fiscally transparent under the tax law of either Contracting State shall be considered to be income of a resident of a Contracting State only to the extent that the income is treated, for the purposes of taxation by that State, as the income of a resident of that State.

Article 2
TAXES COVERED

1. This Agreement shall apply to taxes on income imposed on behalf of a Contracting State or of its political subdivisions or local authorities, irrespective of the manner in which they are levied.

2. There shall be regarded as taxes on income all taxes imposed on total income, or on elements of income, including taxes on gains from the alienation of movable or immovable property and taxes on the total amounts of wages or salaries paid by enterprises.

3. The existing taxes to which the Agreement shall apply are in particular:

• a) In India, the income-tax, including any surcharge thereon, (hereinafter referred to as "Indian tax").
• b) In Qatar, taxes on income, (hereinafter referred to as "Qatari Tax");

4. The Agreement shall apply also to any identical or substantially similar taxes which are imposed after the date of signature of the Agreement in addition to, or in place of, the existing taxes referred to in paragraph 3. The competent authorities of the Contracting States shall notify each other of any significant changes which have been made in their respective taxation laws.

Article 3
GENERAL DEFINITIONS

1. For the purposes of this Agreement, unless the context otherwise requires:

• a) the term “India” means the territory of India and includes the territorial sea and airspace above it, as well as any other maritime zone in which India has sovereign rights, other rights and jurisdiction, according to the Indian law and in accordance with international law, including the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea;
• b) the term “Qatar” means the State of Qatar and when used in the geographical sense it means the State of Qatar’s lands, internal waters, territorial sea including its bed and subsoil, the air space over them, the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf, over which the State of Qatar exercises sovereign rights and jurisdiction in accordance with the provisions of international law and Qatar’s national laws and regulations;
• c) the term "person" includes an individual, a company, a body of persons and any other entity which is treated as a taxable unit under the taxation laws in force in the respective Contracting States;
• d) the term "company" means any body corporate or any entity which is treated as a body corporate for tax purposes;
• e) the terms "enterprise of a Contracting State" and "enterprise of the other Contracting State" mean respectively an enterprise carried on by a resident of a Contracting State and an enterprise carried on by a resident of the other Contracting State;
• f) the term "international traffic" means any transport by a ship or aircraft operated by an enterprise of a Contracting State, except when the ship or aircraft is operated solely between places in the other Contracting State;
• g) the term "competent authority" means :
  • (i) in India: the Finance Minister, Government of India, or his authorized representative
  • (ii) in Qatar : the Minister of Finance, or his authorized representative;
• h) the term "national" means :
  • (i) any individual possessing the nationality of a Contracting State;
  • (ii) any legal person, partnership or association deriving its status as such from the laws in force in a Contracting State;
• i) the term "fiscal year" means :
  • (i) in the case of India, the financial year beginning on the 1st day of April;
  • (ii) in the case of Qatar, taxable year as defined in Qatar Income Tax Law;
• j) the term "tax" means Indian tax or Qatari tax, as the context requires, but shall not include any amount which is payable in respect of any default or omission in relation to the taxes to which this Agreement applies or which represents a penalty or fine imposed relating to those taxes;
• k) the terms "Contracting State" and "the other Contracting State" mean the Republic of India or the State of Qatar as the context requires.

2. As regards the application of the Agreement at any time by a Contracting State, any term not defined therein shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the meaning that it has at that time under the law of that State for the purposes of the taxes to which the Agreement applies and any meaning under the applicable tax laws of that State prevailing over a meaning given to the term under other laws of that State.

Article 4
RESIDENT

1. For the purposes of this Agreement, the term “resident of a Contracting State” means any person who, under the laws of that State, is liable to tax therein by reason of his domicile, residence, place of management or any other criterion of a similar nature, and also includes that State and any political subdivision, local authority or statutory body thereof. This term, however, does not include any person who is liable to tax in that State in respect only of income from sources in that State.

2. Where by reason of the provisions of paragraph 1 an individual is a resident of both Contracting States, then his status shall be determined as follows:

• (a) he shall be deemed to be a resident only of the State with which his personal and economic relations are closer (centre of vital interests);
• (b) if the State in which he has his centre of vital interests cannot be determined, he shall be deemed to be a resident only of the State in which he has an habitual abode;
• (c) if he has an habitual abode in both States or in neither of them, he shall be deemed to be a resident only of the State of which he is a national;
• (d) if he is a national of both States or of neither of them, the competent authorities of the Contracting States shall settle the question by mutual agreement.

3. Where by reason of the provisions of paragraph 1, a person ,other than an individual, is a resident of both Contracting States, the competent authorities of the Contracting States shall endeavour to determine by mutual agreement the Contracting State of which such person shall be deemed to be a resident for the purposes of the Agreement, having regard to its place of effective management, the place where it is incorporated or otherwise constituted and any other relevant factors. In the absence of such agreement, such person shall not be entitled to any relief or exemption from tax provided by this Agreement except to the extent and in such manner as may be agreed upon by the competent authorities of the Contracting States.