Abstract

The caselet discusses the nature of software as a product. It goes into the rulings of various courts in India with regard to the levy of sales tax. The caselet also explores the definition of goods and its various constituents. It focuses on the concern of analysts over the impact of tax on the prices of personal computers.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Is software an intellectual property or a product?
• Is software knowledge or a piece of goods?
• How to distinguish between tangible products and intangible products
• Taxation of canned and uncanned software in India
• and Taxation of software and its impact on the sale of personal computers

Keywords

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Uncanned software, Canned software packages, Tangible commodities, Intellectual property, Definition of goods, General Sales Tax Act, Article of value, Embedded software, IT industry