Retrospective IT changes won't hurt FDI: Government
5 May 2012 1:00 PM GMT
The government on Friday said its proposal to amend the Income Tax (IT) Act with retrospective effect to tax Vodafone-type merger and acquisition deals will not hurt foreign investment.
‘These (Income Tax Act) amendments will not have any impact on foreign investment flow in the country’, the minister of state for finance S S Palanimanickam told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.
Moreover, the minister added, as proposed changes in the Income Tax Act, 1961 are only clarificatory in nature they, ‘will not override the provisions of double taxation avoidance Agreements with 82 countries, which are relevant for taxation of non-residents in the case of offshore mergers and acquisitions.’
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee in Budget 2012-13 proposed to amend the IT Act with retrospective effect to tax overseas M&As involving domestic assets. The amendments will have implications for the British telecom giant Vodafone which won the Rs 11,000-crore tax case in the Supreme Court.
In view of the implications of the proposed amendments on overseas deals, several global organisations have appealed to the Indian government not to go ahead with the retrospective amendment of the IT Act arguing that the decision would hurt foreign investments.
‘These (Income Tax Act) amendments will not have any impact on foreign investment flow in the country’, the minister of state for finance S S Palanimanickam told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.
Moreover, the minister added, as proposed changes in the Income Tax Act, 1961 are only clarificatory in nature they, ‘will not override the provisions of double taxation avoidance Agreements with 82 countries, which are relevant for taxation of non-residents in the case of offshore mergers and acquisitions.’
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee in Budget 2012-13 proposed to amend the IT Act with retrospective effect to tax overseas M&As involving domestic assets. The amendments will have implications for the British telecom giant Vodafone which won the Rs 11,000-crore tax case in the Supreme Court.
In view of the implications of the proposed amendments on overseas deals, several global organisations have appealed to the Indian government not to go ahead with the retrospective amendment of the IT Act arguing that the decision would hurt foreign investments.
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