4 amazing tax planning you can't afford to miss!

Introduction

Who said we can have part II only in movies? Here we come with another set of 4 tax planning that you can’t afford to miss!!!

After the great response on our first part of 4 amazing tax planning’s, we thought of continuing the good work and write even some more great tax planning’s, so that we can be back with a bang !!!

So, here are list of 4 amazing tax planning, that you can’t afford to miss!

1. No more tax heavens?: There are often instances in the past that people generally incorporate the companies in tax heaven and skip the tax base of their resident country.

In India, people generally incorporate the companies in Dubai, Mauritius, British Virgin Island etc. so that they will not be liable to tax in India instead, there income will be liable to be taxed in the tax heavens where tax rate is almost negligible.

Look, how they save tax through this route  

You can see in the above table, that in both the cases, owner was residing in India and can easily skip their taxes by registering companies in tax heavens. This is due to a lacuna in the present law.

In India, law can only tax the Indian companies. Further, foreign company will be treated as resident only if the control and management is wholly situated in India.

Lacuna plugged

The above tax planning was very famous, until Finance Act 2016. As per recent amendment the above planning is curbed to certain extent. As per recent amendment, foreign companies can be treated as Indian company if the place of effective management is in India.

The place of effective management means a place where mostly key management and commercial decisions that are necessary for the conduct of business of an entity are made.

Hence, after this amendment, the current situation is as under:

Since the owners are residing in India, then we can assume that the pace of effective management is in India.

The company shall be liable to tax in both the countries. However, India will provide some credit of tax paid in foreign country.

Any Hack?

Yes, the lacuna is not still plugged fully. There is a hack to avoid the recent amendment of law. Under present structure of Income tax act, India has signed various Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAA) with more than 90 countries.

As per Indian law, if income of any person is taxed in two countries, then he can use the benefit of DTAA. Further, the same person has the option to choose the provision between DTAA and income tax act, whichever is more beneficial.

Likewise, DTAA still carries the older definition which was there under income tax act, 1961 before amendment. Hence, if the person uses the benefit of DTAA, then he will be treated as resident of Mauritius (as stated in the example) and his income shall not liable to tax in India.

2. The Harshness of Deemed dividend: Have you ever thought that loan or advance taken from the company can be treated as your income? Shocked? Please read the full section in detail below;

While running a company, we tend to withdraw money from the bank account of the company for any reason. Sometimes, we withdraw for business use or sometimes for personal use. At the time of filing, your accountant clubs this withdrawal under loans or advance from the company.     

From the prima facie look, the above transaction looks so simple. However, we will show you the ugly face if it. Once, you have completed the transaction, you fall under a trap. As per law, your this loan or advance, will be treated as income in your hand. This will apply even if you have taken money for official purpose.

As per section 2(22)(e), any loan or advance from the company to the person, owning more than 20% of the share capital,  then the sum shall be treated as deemed dividend in the hand of shareholder. Further, Company is required to deduct TDS @ 10% and deposit the same to the govt only makes it worst.

Let us see the figures:

Any hack?

As always, there are ways to avoid the harshness of this section:

• Always take money as a salary from the company.
• If you are taking any advance from the company, then take it as a imprest account and submit supporting to every amount spent.

3. Tax @ 8% of the revenue – Deemed income: Now, this is one of the sections that you will love to read. Mostly businesses or startups don’t know about the benefit of this section and ends up paying higher tax.

Let us understand this by way of an example. The below table is the annual report card of an Individual having business income. We will analyze the same figures under two different cases for FY 2015-16;

From the above table, you can see that the total tax saving is Rs.1,68,920/-. Further, as per section 44AD, you don’t have to keep any books of accounts for income tax purposes.

The features of this section is as follows:

• This section assumes your taxable income to 8% of the gross revenue.
• This section does not apply, if your gross turnover exceeds 1 crore.
• This section applies to business only, technical consultancy or profession is not covered under this section.

4. Non deduction of TDS: This is one of the section, people tends to forget the most. TDS means tax deducted as source. As per the law, there are various payments prescribed on which tax is required to be deducted before making the payments.

As a startup, we tend to forget about this deduction and become an assessee in default.

Which payments require TDS deductions?

Through, there are various payments, which require TDS deduction, we are listing here some of the important deductions to be made:

Consequences of non deduction

Non deduction of TDS will have the following consequences.

• The expense on which TDS is not deducted; it shall be disallowed while computing the total taxes.
• Interest or penalty for non deduction of tax shall be levied.

Any hack- if this is section also none complied?

Yes, like we always have. We have a solution to this problem as well. As per the current provision, if you don’t deduct the TDS on anyone income, then make sure that person has filed their return and paid the due taxes.

If this is done, then penalty and disallowance shall be waived off, only interest you have to bear.

Conclusion: This is not the end

We have explained the 4 another tax planning to help you from the tax problems. This is not the end; we will come back with another chapter of 4 amazing tax planning’s.

About the Author:

The author is CA Paras Mehra, a Chartered Accountant having a vast experience in this field of Accounting, Auditing, and Taxation.  

Disclaimer

This article or author does not promote in any case the illegitimate tax planning and the author is strictly against such practices. This article only explains action of government against the tax practices in the real world. Author will accept no liability if anybody gets harmed or aggrieved with the above article in any case.