SC rules software resale payments usually cannot be called royalty under tax treaties

Treating software payments as royalty may be legally wrong—here’s why

The Supreme Court has settled a long-running tax classification debate, ruling that payments made by resident end users for the resale or use of computer software generally cannot be labelled as “royalty” under tax treaties. Instead, such transactions are treated as procurement of goods, reshaping how software-related income is taxed under the DTAA framework.