Proposed Changes In Income Tax Law For Start-Ups Would Bring In Parity Between Domestic, Foreign Investors

Updated on: 4 February 2023 5:28 pm

The company witnessed a 42 per cent increase in its revenue from operations to Rs 2,062.2 crore in the third quarter of FY23 compared to Rs 1,456.1 crore last year

Vijay Shekhar Sharma-Led Paytm Narrows Down Net Loss To Rs 392 Crore In The Third Quarter of FY23 Photo: The company witnessed a 42 per cent increase in its revenue from operations to Rs 2,062.2 crore in the third quarter of FY23 compared to Rs 1,456.1 crore last year

The proposed changes in the income tax law with regard to start-ups would bring in parity between domestic and foreign investors, a top government official said on Friday.

Revenue secretary Sanjay Malhotra said that domestic investors are already being taxed under section 56 of the law.

With regard to angel tax, "what we did here was we have tried to bring in parity with the residents. The residents are already being taxed and there was no reason why the non-residents should not be paying similar taxes.

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"Probably because of this reason (this provision was introduced in Budget). But yes we are aware that we have to build our systems keeping in mind that a huge majority of people are honest and so they are not put to inconvenience while we build our rules, how we go about it, and don't leave it totally to the discretion of our assessing officers, he said.

CBDT Chairman Nitin Gupta said that once the issue would reach their door, the Department will examine the concerns and take it forward.

Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Secretary Anurag Jain has said that government-recognized start-ups would not be impacted by the proposed changes in the income tax laws with regard to the issuance of shares to foreign entities or overseas angel investors.

However, companies or start-ups which are not recognised by DPIIT would be covered under the proposed amendments to Section 56 (2) of the Income Tax Act, Jain has said.

Section 56(2) (viib) provides that the amount raised by a start-up in excess of its fair market value would be deemed as income from other sources and would be taxed at 30 per cent.

Touted as an anti-abuse measure, this section was introduced in 2012. It is dubbed as an angel tax due to its impact on investments made by angel investors in start-up ventures.

Jain has said the start-ups that are not registered with the department will attract the modified provisions of the section.

According to tax experts, the Budget has proposed to tweak Section 56 of the income tax act to check tax avoidance.