Does the 90-day clock start now? It depends whether you appealed
The order didn't just raise your tax bill for the year assessed, it starts a clock on repatriating the money too, and getting the trigger date wrong is the easiest way to lose the 90 days without realising it.
Accept the adjustment, pay the extra tax and don't appeal, and the 90-day window runs from the date of that order itself. Appeal it instead, and the order isn't final yet, so the clock doesn't start until the appeal is finally decided, whether that's the Commissioner (Appeals), the Tribunal, or further up. An order you're actively appealing hasn't used up any of your 90 days, but the day the appeal is decided against you, the clock starts immediately, so it's worth knowing in advance which route your CA plans to take if the appeal doesn't go your way.
Three ways this can go, and what each one costs
Once the clock is running, there are three real options:
| Route | What it costs | How long the exposure lasts |
|---|---|---|
| Repatriate within 90 days (of the order, or of the appeal's outcome) | Just the original adjustment | Closed once the money's back |
| Do nothing | Notional interest under Rule 10CB, every year | Open-ended |
| Elect the Section 92CE(2A) tax | One-time ~21% on the unrepatriated amount | Closed the day you pay it |
Most advice on transfer-pricing adjustments stops at the first row, actually sending the money back, and skips the third. Section 92CE(2A) lets you instead pay a one-time additional tax, about 21% once surcharge and cess are added, on the amount you're not repatriating; pay it, and the ongoing secondary adjustment and its compounding notional interest stop for good. Whether that's cheaper than actually repatriating depends on what the money is worth staying invested abroad versus the one-time tax, worth running as an actual comparison rather than assumed.
What goes wrong without a CA
The recurring mistake is treating the adjustment order as a one-time tax bill and moving on, with nobody diarising the 90-day clock or its exact trigger date. By the time someone notices the money never came back, the notional interest has usually already been accruing for a year or more, and by then the Section 92CE(2A) election can stop it going forward, but it can't undo the interest that already accrued.