Skip to main content

I-T for More Info in Cases of Indirect Transfer of Assets

Indian companies that witness any indirect transfer of assets will now have to lay bare minute details of their holdings to Income Tax Department.The government has unveiled a new stringent reporting framework to plug the gap in the system, after tax authorities faced trouble in sourcing information in a number of high-profile tax cases, dealing with indirect transfers.
The rules prescribe that information and documents are required to be maintained and furnished to the tax authorities by an Indian entity whose shares are indirectly transferred.
Tax experts say companies will have to prepared for exhaustive disclosures.
“This information is required to be kept for eight years,“ said Rajesh Gandhi, part ner at Tax, Deloitte Has kins & Sells LLP . “The ex tent of the information and documentation requ ired to be kept by the Indi an concern seems to be ve ry substantial conside ring that such informa tion would not be forthcoming quite easily .
Interestingly, any gap in information would make the entire income attribu table to assets located in India,“ said Amit Maheswari, partner, Ashok Maheshwary & Associates LLP .Exhaustive documentation with a sound underlying basis for valuation in case of unlisted shares would be necessary to substantiate the claim of taxpayers of being not covered under Section 9 that deals with indirect transfers of assets.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes on Monday put out draft rules for public comments on calculation of fair market prices of the value derived from assets held in the country . The draft rules provide for determination of fair value of different assets such as listed and unlisted shares of an Indian entity , partnerships and listed and unlisted shares of a foreign entity The draft rules state that the fair value of an unlisted entity will be determined by a merchant banker or chartered accountant in accordance with any internationally accepted pricing methodology . The CBDT has not prescribed any particular valuation methodology and requires the taxpayer to follow internationally accepted principles. This is in line with the FEMA valuation guidelines. Income attributable to assets located in India will be based on the proportion of fair value of assets situated in India as compared to the total fair value of assets of the foreign entity whose shares are transferred.
The Economic Times New Delhi,  24th May 2016

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Household debt up, but India still lags emerging-market economies: RBI

  Although household debt in India is rising, driven by increased borrowing from the financial sector, it remains lower than in other emerging-market economies (EMEs), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its Financial Stability Report. It added that non-housing retail loans, largely taken for consumption, accounted for 55 per cent of total household debt.As of December 2024, India’s household debt-to-gross domestic product ratio stood at 41.9 per cent. “...Non-housing retail loans, which are mostly used for consumption purposes, formed 54.9 per cent of total household debt as of March 2025 and 25.7 per cent of disposable income as of March 2024. Moreover, the share of these loans has been growing consistently over the years, and their growth has outpaced that of both housing loans and agriculture and business loans,” the RBI said in its report.Housing loans, by contrast, made up 29 per cent of household debt, and their growth has remained steady. However, disaggregated data sho...

External spillovers likely to hit India's financial system: RBI report

  While India’s growth remains insulated from global headwinds mainly due to buoyant domestic demand, the domestic financial system could, however, be impacted by external spillovers, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its half yearly Financial Stability Report published on Monday.Furthermore, the rising global trade disputes and intensifying geopolitical hostilities could negatively impact the domestic growth outlook and reduce the demand for bank credit, which has decelerated sharply. “Moreover, it could also lead to increased risk aversion among investors and further corrections in domestic equity markets, which despite the recent correction, remain at the high end of their historical range,” the report said.It noted that there is some build-up of stress, primarily in financial markets, on account of global spillovers, which is reflected in the marginal rise in the financial system stress indicator, an indicator of the stress level in the financial system, compared to its p...

Retail inflation cools to a six-year low of 2.82% in May on moderating food prices

  New Delhi: Retail inflation in India cooled to its lowest level in over six years in May, helped by a sharp moderation in food prices, according to provisional government data released Thursday.Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation eased to 2.82% year-on-year, down from 3.16% in April and 4.8% in May last year, data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) showed. This marks the fourth consecutive month of sub-4% inflation, the longest such streak in at least five years.The data comes just days after the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee cut the repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.5%, its third straight cut and a cumulative reduction of 100 basis points since the easing cycle began in February. The move signals a possible pivot from inflation control to supporting growth.Food inflation came in at just 0.99% in May, down from 1.78% in April and a sharp decline from 8.69% a year ago.A Mint poll of 15 economists had projected CPI ...