TaxHeal - GST and Income Tax Complete Guide Portal

(Last Updated On: March 6, 2017)

Suggestions on Clauses 43 of Finance Bill 2017 – Section 94B- Limitation of interest benefit provisions introduced – certain concerns to be addressed

The Finance Bill, 2017 proposes limitation of interest benefit (deduction) where an Indian company, or a permanent establishment of a foreign company in India, being the borrower, pays interest exceeding rupees one crore in respect of any debt issued/guaranteed (implicitly or explicitly) by a non-resident AE. The interest shall not be deductible in computing income chargeable under the head ‘Profits and gains of business or profession’ to the extent, it qualifies as excess interest.

Excess interest shall mean total interest paid/payable by the taxpayer in excess of thirty per cent of cash profits or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) or interest paid or payable to AEs for that previous year, whichever is less.

There will be restriction on the deductibility of the interest in the hands of the taxpayer in a particular financial year to the extent it is excess as explained above. However, the same shall be allowed to be carried forward for a period of eight years and allowed as deduction in subsequent years. The above restrictions shall not be applicable to the taxpayer engaged in the business of banking or insurance. These provisions will be applicable for FY 2017-18 and subsequent years.

a. India is a developing country with a need for foreign investment to fund various initiatives, in particular, the development of India’s infrastructure. The Government has given its support at a policy level, inter-alia, consistently reducing tax withholding rates on ECBs by Indian entities from non-residents, which indicates encouragement by the Government towards debt obtained by Indian entities by overseas parties. However, the restrictions imposed under the proposed Section 94B above in respect of interest of overseas loans is giving mixed signals to foreign as well as Indian parties at a policy level on overseas borrowings. This inconsistency may lead to further policy level uncertainty in the minds of the business community in India and may undermine the attempts at enhancing the “ease of doing business” by the Government. Under existing ECB guidelines, there is already a mechanism in place to limit the Borrower’s Debt/Equity ratio, which effectively safeguards India’s interests with regard to excessive debt. As such, there is no need for any additional measure to protect India’s interests in this regard.

Suggestion:

In view of the above policy level issues, it is suggested that the restrictions proposed to be imposed on the interest benefits on overseas borrowings may be done away with entirely or at least deferred for 5-10 years to give India a chance to achieve high growth and achieve significant infrastructural development and maturity.

b. Without prejudice to the aforesaid, if at all it is considered necessary to have provisions to limit the deductibility of interest, the exclusions granted to banking and insurance companies may be extended to other sectors such as Infrastructure and Non- Banking Finance Companies. Large capital intensive companies with long gestation periods, Non-Banking Finance Companies, companies in the real estate sector and companies in the infrastructure sector (requiring significant foreign capital which may not always come in the form of equity) are typically highly leveraged on account of the business requirements (either by way of external or related party debt) and might be negatively impacted by the interest restriction.

Suggestion:

It is recommended to carve out exceptions for inherently highly leveraged industries from the aforesaid restrictions. The Government may also consider allowing carry forward of excess interest for a longer period, say 15 years, instead of the prescribed 8 years to cushion the long gestation periods for such industries.

c. The proviso to sub-section (1) provides that where debt is issued by a non-associated lender but an AE either provides implicit or explicit guarantee to such lender, such debt shall be deemed to have been issued by an AE.

In respect of explicit guarantees, the transaction relating to associated enterprises is only towards a guarantee commission (in case charged by the overseas guarantor). The interest towards the borrowing is paid in this case only to a third party wherein the rate and terms are decided purely through negotiation. Hence, restriction of benefit in relation to guarantees ought to be only to the extent of the guarantee commission (f any) claimed as a deduction by the Indian entity and not interest paid to the third party lender.

Further, including implicit guarantees under the above restrictions would lead to significant hardship for the taxpayers and may result in protracted litigation in the coming years. It is pertinent to note that there is no clear definition of implicit guarantee and it would be an onerous task for the taxpayers and tax authorities to determine existence of an implicit guarantee. E.g. when a letter of comfort or simply an undertaking is provided by one AE to a lender or a bank, the tax authorities may contest that guarantee exists, without going into details whether the same has benefited the borrower and whether the AE has actually rendered any service or assumed any liability.

Suggestion:

The proposed section should be amended to specify limitation of benefits in guarantee cases only to the extent of the guarantee commission (if any) paid by the Indian entity to the overseas guarantor (being its AE) and not the interest. Further, the word implicit guarantee may be dropped from the provisions. The term ‘explicit guarantee’ may also be appropriately defined to obviate future litigation on this front.

d. Based on the definition of the term ‘debt’ as provided in clause (ii) of sub-section (5) of proposed section 94B, interest may include many other payments made on various kinds of financial arrangements and instruments. There may be an issue as to what payments made by the taxpayer needs to be included in the term interest e.g. which payments on account of finance lease and financial derivatives should be included in the term ‘interest or similar consideration’ etc. which may again lead to litigation.

Suggestion:

Appropriate guidelines may be issued to clarify what the term `interest or similar consideration’ should include or exclude as the definition provided in the existing Section 2(28A) of the Act may not be adequate for the purposes of thin-capitalisation rules based on the definition of the term ‘debt’.

e. There is lack of clarity on the mechanism to calculate EBITDA i.e. say, on the basis of book profits calculated on the basis of accounting standards, Ind-AS or otherwise. This may result in unnecessary litigation.

Suggestion:

It is suggested that the mechanism to calculate EBITDA be clearly laid down.

f. The BEPS Action Plan 4 provides for a Group Ratio Rule wherein the Group’s overall third party interest as a proportion of the Group’s EBITDA is computed and that ratio is applied to the individual company’s EBITDA to determine the interest restriction.

This would take into account the actual third party debt and leverage at global level vis-à-vis third parties. This also addresses the issue relating to inherently highly leveraged industries since the global leverage ratio would take into account the significant debt and would be commensurate to the leverage ratio required at individual country level. Given this, a relatively fair leverage requirement at India level would emerge.

Suggestion:

It is suggested in place of a fixed 30 per cent EBITDA restriction, a Group Ratio could be considered in order to apply the interest deduction restriction under the above provision.

g. Sub-section (1) of Section 94B specifically requires the lending to be from a non-resident AE for the section to trigger. However, branches or permanent establishments of foreign banks are also “non-residents” for the purposes of the Income-tax Act. Whilst branches or permanent establishments of foreign banks operate essentially as Indian companies and compete directly with Indian banks, debt by related Indian branches of banks or guarantees given by AEs towards borrowings by Indian companies from branches or permanent establishments of foreign banks would qualify for disallowance under the above provision. This places the Indian branches of foreign banks at a disadvantageous position vis-a-vis competing Indian banks.

Suggestion:

It is suggested that borrowings by Indian companies from Indian branches or permanent establishments of foreign banks may be wholly excluded from the purview of the aforesaid proposed Sec 94B (either by way of direct borrowing from or by way of guarantee by AE to such branches or permanent establishments of foreign banks).

Source- ICAI Post-Budget Memoranda-2017

269ST – Burning Issues on ban on Cash receipts of Rs 3 Lakh or above -Budget 2017-18 Suggestions

Budget 2017-18 Suggestion- Turnover Limit needs to be increased for TDS section 194A/ 194H/ 194I & 194J

Transfer of unquoted shares – double taxation for seller and buyer -Budget 2017-18 Suggestion

Capital Gain – joint development agreement -Budget 2017-18 Suggestions

Gift u/s 56(2)(x) not treated as Income u/s 2(24)? Budget 2017-18 Suggestions

Transfer of carbon credits not treated as Income u/s 2(24)? Budget 2017-18 Suggestions

Clear confusion of TCS on Sale of Jewellery w.e.f 01.04.2017 – Budget 2017-18 Suggestions

Exclude pooling vehicles like Mutual funds, AIP’s from section 115BBDA- Dividend Taxation– Budget 2017-18 Suggestions

Rs 2 Lakh Interest deduction for house property held as stock-in-trade by builders? – Budget 2017-18 Suggestions

Partly Cash Expenditure on Asset – entire amount Disallowed ? Budget 2017-18 Suggestions

Reduce Tax to @ 25% on LLP, Firms, Firms Coverted into Companies, New companies – Budget 2017-18 Suggestions