On February 1, 2022, the Finance Minister, Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman announced the Union Budget, 2022 in the backdrop of multiple challenges arising from the global pandemic and fiscal pressures. The Government has estimated India’s economic growth in the current year to be 9.2% (highest among all large economies). In this backdrop, the Budget focuses on promotion of the digital economy, clean energy, climate action and private investment with public capital investment.
One of the most significant tax proposals is introduction of taxation regime for Virtual Digital Assets (“VDAs”). The Budget proposes to levy tax at rate of 30% (plus applicable surcharge and cess) irrespective of the period of holding and does not allow for any deduction in respect of expenses incurred aside from the cost of
acquisition. The proposals provide much needed clarity on the manner of taxation of VDAs. However, the broad definition of VDAs may have other unintended consequences as well. Having said this, the Budget has still certain issues like applicability of GST, valuation of VDAs etc. which could leave room for varied interpretations and potential litigation.
In addition to above, some proposals have been made to streamline the process of tax controversy and reduce burden on Indian courts. Provisions relating to re-assessment of income have been further rationalised to provide clarity on what constitutes ‘information which suggests that income has escaped assessment’, timeline for re-assessment etc. Further, changes have also been proposed to the scheme of faceless assessment to eliminate the procedural and technical issues the tax payers and tax authorities were facing and provisions for voluntary tax compliances enabling procedure for filing of updated return of income.
In light of the above background, please join our distinguished speakers as they talk about the key amendments proposed by the Budget and its impact. The session will be followed by Q&A.
Focus Area
Tax regime for VDA and its impact
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Legal status of VDAs
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What is likely to be covered within ‘VDA’
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How will income from VDAs be computed
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Withholding tax implications
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Gift tax on VDAs
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GST implications
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What should investors do
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Other legal considerations for VDAs including IP issues
Tax Controversy Management
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Evolution of re-assessment proceedings under the ITA
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Faceless assessments – changes and benefits for taxpayers
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Procedure where an identical question of law is pending
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Provisions enabling procedure for filing of updated return of income
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Deductibility of Health and Education Cess
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Proposal to set up International Arbitration mechanism in the IFSC
Speakers
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Payaswini UpadhyaySenior Editor, Law & Policy, Bloomberg Quint
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Payaswini Upadhyay is Senior Editor and leads the law and policy coverage for BloombergQuint - India's premier multi-platform business and financial news company, and part of the global Bloomberg Media network. She anchors
The Fineprint - a show on corporate laws, tax, and policy matters. Payaswini has spent over 13 years in business journalism across media organisations, including CNBC-TV18, Economic Times and ET Now, covering equity markets, personal finance and corporate law. She briefly worked as a lawyer with Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas.
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Gowree Gokhale
Leader, IP, TMT, Entertainment and Data Protection Law Practice, Nishith Desai Associates
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Gowree leads the IP, Technology, Media and Entertainment, data protection law practice of research and strategy driven international law firm, Nishith Desai Associates. She has assisted several international businesses in India strategy, regulatory advice, corporate and strategic deals, litigation and arbitration in TMT and Pharma sector. She has spearheaded several policy initiatives for the TMT and Pharma industry including for online content companies, gaming industry, IT industry as also for privacy and data protection laws. She has also been consistently working on high tech industry aspects. She has been named in several legal directories, including in the Hall of Fame (TMT) in Legal 500.
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Parul Jain
Head, International Tax Practice at Nishith Desai Associates
WIN
Rep-India
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Parul co-heads the International Tax Practice at Nishith Desai Associates. A lawyer and a chartered accountant by profession, she has close to two decades of experience in corporate and international tax field and specializes in M&A transactions and Private Equity space. Prior to joining Nishith Desai Associates, she was partner at M&A Tax practice in one of the Big Four accounting firms. She advises extensively on cross border taxation, acquisition and reorganisation strategies including debt funding and investment strategies. She has also worked closely with renowned fund managers in structuring set up of their offshore and domestic fund platforms, including providing advice on carry structuring from a legal and tax perspective. She has been recognized by International Tax Review World Tax 2013 and has also been listed in The Legal500 Directory. She has also been recognized as one of the Leading Women Leaders in Tax 2016, 2017 and 2019 by International Tax Review.
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Karishma Phatarphekar
Partner and Tax Controversy Management leader at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP
Deputy WIN Rep-India
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Karishma is a Partner in the tax practice of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP and leads the Tax Controversy Management team comprising of litigators in the area of transfer pricing, corporate and international tax and indirect tax. Prior to joining Deloitte, she led transfer pricing and dispute management practices of renowned Accounting and Tax firms during the past 12 years. She has about two decades worth of experience, majority of which is focused on transfer pricing with extensive experience on dispute management and resolution including MAP/APAs, global compliances and consulting on complex transfer pricing issues. She has advised clients in the lifesciences, technology and financial services industry.
Karishma has recently been listed by Euromoney as an expert in Tax litigation. She also featured in the list of the top ten transfer pricing advisors in India and was nominated amongst the Tax Controversy Leaders and Women Tax Leaders by International Tax Review. She has successfully argued high stake matters having complex transfer issues before Tribunal, which are now binding precedents in law.
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Yuri MatsubaraMeiji University
WIN Co-Rep-Japan
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Yuri Matsubara is a professor of tax law at School of Commerce at Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan. After graduating from the University of Tokyo (LL.B.) and the Graduate School of Law and Politics at the same University (LL.M. in public law) she studied at Leiden University (LL.M. in international taxation) in the Netherlands. Subsequently she undertook further study in Germany (2001-2005) and spent 3 months as a guest researcher at the Vienna University of Business Administration (WU) in Austria (2005) and obtained from the University of Munich her PhD (2006). Since 2007 she has held a full-time chair of tax law at Meiji University in Tokyo.
From 2010 till 2017 she worked as a part-time researcher at the Tax Litigation Bureau in the Japanese Ministry of Justice. Besides that, she is currently a member of the tax committee of the Tokyo Metropolitan government.
In relation to IFA, she has her membership from 2007. She was nominated as a branch reporter of Subject II “The Future of Transfer Pricing” at the IFA Rio 2017 and was invited as a panel at the IFA APEC regional congresses at New Delhi in 2017 and at Melbourne in 2019 respectively. Since April 2021 she has been acting as a co-rep of WIN Japan. Her native language is Japanese, but she can speak English and German fluently. Her main research areas are Japanese individual/corporate tax law and international taxation including the BEPS project.
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About IFA
The Women of IFA Network (WIN) represents and connects the many professional women working in international tax. IFA strives at being representative for a dynamic international tax community and encourages the participation of women in the Association’s structures and proceedings. After a first successful gathering in 2013 in Copenhagen, the WIN events were followed up during the next congresses.
The London Congress marked 100 years of women being allowed to practice in law and accountancy in many countries around the world and therefore in tax. The IFA London Branch of WIN has celebrated the achievements of women of the past who have contributed to and shaped the future of women working in international tax across the profession. To mark this occasion, Slaughter and May have put together Recognising 100 years of Women in Tax, a wonderful profile book containing more than 70 profiles of women in tax.
