Competent authority / MAP request — how much of this can I do myself?
Some of it, yes — and we will say so on the call if that is the honest answer. The parts that are worth paying for are the ones where a missed election, a missed deadline or an unverified threshold costs more than the fee: the request is made to the competent authority of the country of residence, within the treaty's time limit, and the two authorities then negotiate.
What if I have already filed and got it wrong?
That is a common starting point. We re-derive the position, identify whether an amendment or a disclosure route is the right vehicle, and tell you which one preserves the relief that is still available. The order matters more than the speed.
How long will it take?
It depends on the documents rather than on us. Once the pack is complete most filings turn around inside a fortnight; anything that needs a certificate from a tax authority runs on that authority's timetable, which we tell you at the start rather than at the end.
Can I still request MAP if my objection deadline has already passed?
Usually yes. The mutual agreement procedure is a treaty route, not a domestic appeal, so the expiry of your objection or appeal rights in one country does not close it. That is one of the reasons it exists: two countries are taxing the same profit, and the treaty gives their tax administrations a way to settle that between themselves even when the taxpayer has run out of domestic remedies. The treaty does set its own time limit, however, and that limit is independent of the domestic one. So the first thing worth checking is not whether the objection period has gone, but whether the treaty period is still open.
Which country do I send a competent authority request to?
To the competent authority of the country you are resident in, not the country that made the adjustment. That trips people up, because the instinct is to write to the authority you are arguing with. The residence authority receives the request, decides whether the case has merit, and then takes it to its counterpart. From that point the negotiation is government to government, with you supplying the evidence rather than sitting at the table. Where residence is itself what is in dispute, the request still has to be lodged somewhere, and choosing that starting point is part of preparing the case rather than an afterthought.
How long do I have to make a competent authority request?
The time limit is in the treaty itself, in the mutual agreement article, and it is not the same in every treaty. It generally runs from the notification of the action that produces the taxation you are complaining about, rather than from the tax year or from the date you paid. The practical consequence is that the clock can already be running while a domestic objection is being argued, and can expire while you are waiting for that to conclude. Read the article that applies to your two countries before assuming you have time, and treat the domestic timetable as a separate matter running alongside it.
What actually happens after a MAP request is accepted?
The two competent authorities negotiate. Each puts its own position, exchanges the facts it has been given, and works towards an agreement on which of them may tax the profit and to what extent. You are not a party to that negotiation, which changes what your job is: the evidence has to be complete and consistent at the outset, because you cannot correct a misunderstanding mid-discussion the way you could in a domestic appeal. Timescales are measured in many months. The outcome is an agreement between the two administrations, which is then given effect in the assessments in each country.
Both countries say I am resident there — can MAP resolve that?
A contested residence determination is one of the standard uses of the procedure. Where each country applies its own domestic rules and each concludes that you are resident, the treaty gives a route to have the question settled between the two administrations rather than argued twice in parallel. What matters is the factual record: where you were, what you kept, what you closed, and when. Because both authorities will be working from the same submission, inconsistencies between what was said on one country's return and what is being asserted in the request tend to surface early and cost credibility.
One tax authority adjusted our transfer prices and the other will not follow?
That one-sided adjustment is the classic MAP case. One country increases the profit taxed in its jurisdiction, the other declines to reduce the profit it has already taxed, and the same margin ends up taxed twice. Domestic appeal in the adjusting country can only argue about that country's figure; it cannot compel the other to make a corresponding reduction. The treaty procedure can, because it puts both administrations in the same conversation. The preparation is largely evidential — the functional analysis, the pricing method and the comparables have to hold up in front of both of them at once.
Which country taxes my government pension or social security?
The treaty decides, and the answer differs by the type of retirement income. Many treaties give social security to the country of residence, sometimes exclusively, while a pension for government service can stay taxable only in the paying country. Some treaties also cap the taxable proportion or preserve an exemption the source country gives its own residents. Because the categories are distinct, one household can have two pensions taxed by two different countries. See the pensions and annuities article.
Does India have a tax treaty with the United States?
Yes. India and the United States have a comprehensive agreement covering residency, business profits, dividends, interest, royalties and fees for technical services, along with relief for the same income taxed in both. Claiming it from the Indian side generally means a residency certificate and Form 10F, and the credit itself is claimed on Form 67. See DTAA relief — India and the United States.
