What is Foreign Tax Credit (FTC)?

If you have paid or accrued foreign taxes in a country or specified territory outside India, by way of deduction or otherwise, in the year in which the income corresponding to such tax has been offered to tax or assessed to tax in India, you may be able to take either a credit or an itemized deduction for those taxes.
Characteristics of FTC

• FTC is a method for elimination of double taxation.
• Credit for the amount of any foreign tax paid in the source country against the taxes to be discharged in the residence country.
• In India income tax system, tax Residents and Ordinary Residents (ROR) on worldwide income and offer FTC to tone down the potential for double taxation of income.
• It can be adjusted against tax, cess and surcharge payable under the Income Tax Act.
• It cannot be adjusted against interest, fee or penalty payable under the Act.
• It is not available in case foreign tax or part thereof is disputed by the assessee in any manner.

Conditions to avail FTC
For a tax payer to be eligible for FTC:

• He must have made a payment to a foreign government;
• The payment must be towards an income tax, or a tax in lieu of an income tax; and
• It is permissible in the year where income is offered in India by the assessee within six monthsfrom the end of the month.

Regulations governing FTC

• Section 91includes the tax credit for countries where no DTAA is in force.
• Section 90includes the tax credit for countries where India has entered into a Double Tax Avoidance Agreement (DTAA).
• Rule 128along with Form 67 was introduced in 2016 and came into force on 4.2017

Before the introduction of Rule 128 and Form 67, these provisions were there in the Income Tax Act but no specific rules governing mechanism for determining foreign tax credit.


Unilateral tax credit system in India (Section 91 of Act)
Preconditions

• Available to a tax resident of India.
• Available in respect income accruing or arising outside India.
• Actual tax payment in foreign country on such income.
• Tax liability resulting in tax payment in India (i.e. income is actually doubly taxed).
• No DTAA with the foreign country in which tax is paid.

Quantum of relief

• Proportionate relief at lower of ‘Indian tax rate’ or ‘foreign tax rate’.
• Not full credit.

Bilateral agreements elimination of double taxation (Section 90 of Act)
Two methods envisaged by Model convention – Choice left to the treaty partners.
Exemption method
Credit method
Focus is on income.
Thrust is on taxes and not on income.
Full exemption is granted. Doubly taxed income do not form part of resident country tax computation.
Full credit is granted. Deduction allowed for taxes paid in the source country.
Exemption with progression. Resident country considers doubly taxed income only for the purposes of rate determination.
Ordinary credit is granted. Deduction quantified with relevance to resident country tax on double taxed income. Most of the DTAAs provide for this model of relief.
Taxes retained at the level imposed by source country.
Equality in treatment of capital investment whether made within or outside resident country. If the source country has lower tax rate, overall taxes are increased to that prevailing in the resident country while if source country has higher tax rate, credit is restricted to taxes prevailing in resident country.
Losses incurred in source country can be adjusted.
Losses incurred in source country can lead to “double dip”.
Form-67
Documents required to claim FTC

• Form 67 fully verified and certified by a Charted Accountant (CA) on or before furnishing the tax return.
• Produce a certificate issuedby the concerned tax authority of the foreign country or the specified territory or from the person who is responsible for the deduction (ex. employer) that includes (i) Nature of foreign income and (ii) the amount of TDS.
• A proof of payment of foreign tax.

Few key points

• Form 67 is to be filed electronically.
• It is to be filed on or before due date of filing Income Tax Return.
• It is available on the e-filing portal itself.
• Electronic Verification Code (EVC) or a Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) is required to be filed.
• It should be submitted before filing of Income Tax Return.

This is a complex compliance; you can seek help from our tax experts to claim your FTC.

**Section 8 Company Formation** (http://ajsh.in/blog/section-8-company-formation/)

In India, a non-profit organization can be registered as a Trust, by making a Trust deed or as a Section 8 Company, under the Companies Act, 2013. According Indian Companies Act, 2013, a section-8 company can be established for promoting commerce, art, science, sports, education, research, social welfare, religion, charity, protection of environment or any such other object, provided the profits, if any, or other income is applied for promoting only the objectives of the company and no dividend is paid to its members.

Procedure for formation of section 8 company is listed below:
1. Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) & Directors Identification Number (DIN): The only secure and authentic way that a document can be submitted electronically is DSC. All filings of e-forms on MCA Portal are required to be filed with the use of DSC of the authorized signatory. Further, DIN for all the proposed Directors of the Company must be obtained. For obtaining DIN an application in Form No. DIR – 3 should be filed on MCA Portal with documents attested by a practicing professional.

2. Name approval: By submitting an application in Form – INC 1, applicant can obtain approval for selected names from the Registrar of Companies (RoC). The Applicant can give maximum six names in order of preference. The name once approved by the authority is valid for sixty days. The name once approved by the authority is valid for 3 months. Name approval generally takes 1-2 business days.

3. Main instrument: After obtaining name approval, constitutional documents i.e. Memorandum of Association (MOA) and Articles of Association (AOA) is to be drafted and subsequently filed with the RoC along with the forms and other necessary documents stated below:

• Affidavits
• Consent Letters
• Certificate of Compliance from a practicing professionals
• Subscription pages of MOA & AOA– Both documents shall be signed by each subscriber who shall mention his name, address, description and occupation, if any, in the presence of at least one witness who shall attest the signature and shall likewise sign and add his name, address, description and occupation, if any. The witness shall be a practicing professional

4. Issuance of license with registration fee: For Section 8 company license, promoter has to file E-Form INC 12 accompanied by:

• MOA and AOA
• A declaration confirming the application by a practicing Company Secretary
• Names, addresses, occupation and descriptions of the promoters as well as Board Members
• A statement showing details of assets & liabilities as on date with the application
• Estimated future annual income and expenditure, specifying the source of income and object of expenditure
• A statement giving brief description of work, if any, already done by the association
• A statement specifying briefly the grounds on which the application is made
• A declaration in prescribed form on non – judicial stamp paper by each person making an application
• A letter of authority with payment of prescribed fee

5. Other requirement: Following forms are to be filed with the RoC after issuance of license:

• Form INC – 7 for declaration of compliance with the requirements of the Act on application for registration of a company;
• Form INC – 22 for notice of situation of registered office;
• Form DIR – 12 for appointment of directors of the company; and
• Subscribers and proposed directors may delegate their authority to a person(s) to carry out appropriate change(s) as suggested by the RoC in any of the incorporation papers that have been filed.

6. Clarifications / additional Information required by ROC: Documents submitted for the purpose of incorporation are thoroughly reviewed by the RoC. RoC may require certain clarifications, if required. The person authorized shall present clarifications with Roc as needed.

7. Certificate of Incorporation: After providing clarifications, the Certificate of Incorporation is issued by the RoC along with a unique Company Identification Number (CIN) and the Company is deemed to be incorporated from the date of certificate issued. Consecutively, company may apply for other tax and regulatory registration as may be required to run the business smoothly like PAN, TAN, Bank account, etc.

8. Subscription money: A new bank account solely at the name of the company newly incorporated shall be opened by the Board of Directors and the Subscribers. Further to that, they shall deposit their subscription money in bank account to help the company raise initial capital to start its business.

Minimum Requirements for Section 8 Company:
1. At least 2 shareholder and 2 Director (both can be the same person)
2. At least one Director shall be resident in India
3. No Minimum capital required
4. PAN is a mandatory requirement in case of Indian nationals
5. Identity Proof (Voter ID/Aadhar Card/Driving License/Passport); Passport is mandatory requirement for proof of identity in case of foreign nationals
6. Proof of Residence
7. Registered utility proof that is any office address proof
8. Any documents establishing the ownership such as sale deed / house tax receipt along with no objection certificate, in case the premises are owned by a Director and Promoters


For further queries, click here!www.newcompanyregistrationindia.com/contact-us.php