Chennai: The government has eased the procedure for seeking income tax exemption by startups on investments from angel funds and prescribed a 45-day deadline for a decision on such applications.
The move comes against the backdrop of various startup founders claiming that they have received notices under Section 56(2) (viib) of the Income Tax Act from the I-T department to pay taxes on angel funds raised by them. Entrepreneurs have raised concerns over these tax notices.
“The CBDT, within a period of 45 days from the date of receipt of application from DIPP may grant approval to the Startup for the purposes of clause (viib) of sub-section (2) of section 56 of the Act or decline to grant such approval,” a government notification said.
The notification comes after Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu raised the matter with the Finance Ministry. The new procedure says that to seek the exemption, a startup will apply, with all the documents, to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). The application of the recognised startup shall be moved by the department to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) with necessary documents.
Earlier the procedure was carried out by an inter ministerial board of certification. Application procedure has been simplified by making application to CBDT through the DIPP. The earlier requirement of startup to submit report from merchant banker specifying the fair market value of shares has also been removed.
A startup which is recognised by the DIPP would be eligible to seek the exemption, subject to certain conditions. Startups will have to provide account details and return of income for last three years. Similarly, investors would also have to give its net worth details and return of income.
The conditions also include that investor should have returned income of Rs 50 lakh or more for the financial year preceding the year of investment; and net worth exceeding Rs 2 crore or the amount of investment made/proposed to be made in the startup, whichever is higher, as on the last date of the financial year preceding the year of investment/proposed investment.
In April 2018, the government had allowed startups to avail full tax concession on investments up to Rs 10 crore from investors, including angel financiers.
The revised norms would apply to startups seeking exemption after the issuance of the notification. The new norms would not apply to those entrepreneurs who have received notices from tax authorities.
The government launched the Startup India initiative in January 2016 to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and entrepreneurship.
| Letter to PM |
| Industry think tank iSPIRT wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier, urging the government to abolish tax on angel investments that has ‘victimised’ many startups and poses a ‘serious threat’ to the Start Up India movement.
iSPIRT, representing more than 60 startups in its letter, highlighted that in the last two years, many startups that have raised angel funding in AY2015-16 and 2016-17 have received notices from the Income Tax department under Section 56(2)(viib) of the I-T Act. It added that the notices primarily question the high share premium at which the shares have been allotted during the angel funding. “Startups are in distress and many feel victimised mainly due to the subjectivity, cost and arbitrariness involved in the implementation of this anti-evasionary measure which treats every assessee as guilty until proven innocent,” it said. “The Start Up India Movement is under serious threat, the situation is grave and it will slide down further if immediate structural policy measures are not taken to halt this. Angel investors who support innovation by making risky investments are incentivised in many countries,” it added. |