For the A. Y. 2012-13, the assessee had entered into international transactions. The international transactions were certified to be at arm’s length, based on the transactional net margin method as defined. The transfer pricing report and the transfer pricing documentation had been filed. The Assessing Officer computed the arm’s length price on his own and completed the assessment which resulted in an addition of more than Rs. 5 crore.
The Madras High Court allowed the writ petition filed by the assessee and held as under:
“i) Under the CBDT Instruction dated 20/05/2003, once the disputed value crosses a sum of Rs. 5 crore, necessarily the assessing authority has to refer the matter to the Transfer Pricing Officer so as to proceed further.
ii) Since the provisions of the Act make it clear that u/s. 92CA the only option was to place the matter before the Transfer Pricing Officer, and that option had not been followed, the assessment order was not valid and had to be set aside.”