Fund Managers in India not to constitue business connection of offshore funds, Income Tax

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Question- What are the proposed regime in Finance Bill 2015 to facilitate location of fund managers of off-shore funds in India ?

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[Admin TMI]

Fund Managers in India not to constitute business connection of offshore funds

The existing provisions of section 9 of the Act deal with cases of income which are deemed to accrue or arise in India. Section 9(1)(i) provides a set of circumstances in which income is deemed to accrue or arise in India, and is taxable in India. One of the conditions for the income of a non-resident to be deemed to accrue or arise in India is the existence of a business connection in India. Once such a business connection is established, income attributable to the activities which constitute business connection becomes taxable in India. Similarly, under Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAAs), the source country assumes taxation rights on certain incomes if the non-resident has a Permanent Establishment (PE) in that country.

Further, section 6 of the Act provides for conditions under which a person is said to be resident in India. In the case of a person other than an individual, the test is dependent upon the location of its “control and management”.

In the case of off-shore funds, under the existing provisions, the presence of a fund manager in India may create sufficient nexus of the off-shore fund with India and may constitute a business connection in India even though the fund manager may be an independent person. Similarly, if the fund manager located in India undertakes fund management activity in respect of investments outside India for an off-shore fund, the profits made by the fund from such investments may be liable to tax in India due to the location of fund manager in India and attribution of such profits to the activity of the fund manager undertaken on behalf of the off-shore fund. Therefore, apart from taxation of income received by the fund manager as fees for fund management activity, income of off-shore fund from investments made in countries outside India may also get taxed in India due to such fund management activity undertaken in, and from, India constituting a business connection. Further, presence of the fund manager under certain circumstances may lead to the off shore fund being held to be resident in India on the basis of its control and management being in India.

There are a large number of fund managers who are of Indian origin and are managing the investment of offshore funds in various countries. These persons are not locating in India due to the above tax consequence in respect of income from the investments of offshore funds made in other jurisdictions.

In order to facilitate location of fund managers of off-shore funds in India a specific regime has been proposed in the Act in line with international best practices with the objective that, subject to fulfillment of certain conditions by the fund and the fund manager,-

(i) the tax liability in respect of income arising to the Fund from investment in India would be neutral to the fact as to whether the investment is made directly by the fund or through engagement of Fund manager located in India; and

(ii) that income of the fund from the investments outside India would not be taxable in India solely on the basis that the Fund management activity in respect of such investments have been undertaken through a fund manager located in India.

The proposed regime provides that in the case of an eligible investment fund, the fund management activity carried out through an eligible fund manager acting on behalf of such fund shall not constitute business connection in India of the said fund. Further, it is proposed that an eligible investment fund shall not be said to be resident in India merely because the eligible fund manager undertaking fund management activities on its behalf is located in India. This specific exception from the general rules for determination of business connection and ‘resident status’ of off-shore funds and fund management activity undertaken on its behalf is subject to the following:-

(1) The offshore fund shall be required to fulfill the following conditions during the relevant year for being an eligible investment fund:

(i) the fund is not a person resident in India;

(ii) the fund is a resident of a country or a specified territory with which an agreement referred to in sub-section (1) of section 90 or sub-section (1) of section 90A has been entered into;

(iii) the aggregate participation or investment in the fund, directly or indirectly, by persons being resident in India does not exceed five percent. of the corpus of the fund;

(iv) the fund and its activities are subject to applicable investor protection regulations in the country or specified territory where it is established or incorporated or is a resident ;

(v) the fund has a minimum of twenty five members who are, directly or indirectly, not connected persons;

(vi) any member of the fund along with connected persons shall not have any participation interest, directly or indirectly, in the fund exceeding ten percent.;

(vii) the aggregate participation interest, directly or indirectly, of ten or less members along with their connected persons in the fund, shall be less than fifty percent. ;

(viii) the investment by the fund in an entity shall not exceed twenty percent of the corpus of the fund;

(ix) no investment shall be made by the fund in its associate entity;

(x) the monthly average of the corpus of the fund shall not be less than one hundred crore rupees and if the fund has been established or incorporated in the previous year, the corpus of fund shall not be less than one hundred crore rupees at the end of such previous year;

(xi) the fund shall not carry on or control and manage, directly or indirectly, any business in India or from India;

(xii) the fund is neither engaged in any activity which constitutes a business connection in India nor has any person acting on its behalf whose activities constitute a business connection in India other than the activities undertaken by the eligible fund manager on its behalf.

(xiii) the remuneration paid by the fund to an eligible fund manager in respect of fund management activity undertaken on its behalf is not less than the arm’s length price of such activity.

(2) The following conditions shall be required to be satisfied by the person being the fund manager for being an eligible fund manager:

(i) the person is not an employee of the eligible investment fund or a connected person of the fund;

(ii) the person is registered as a fund manager or investment advisor in accordance with the specified regulations;

(iii) the person is acting in the ordinary course of his business as a fund manager;

(iv) the person along with his connected persons shall not be entitled, directly or indirectly, to more than twenty percent of the profits accruing or arising to the eligible investment fund from the transactions carried out by the fund through such fund manager.

It is further proposed that every eligible investment fund shall, in respect of its activities in a financial year, furnish within ninety days from the end of the financial year, a statement in the prescribed form to the prescribed income-tax authority containing information relating to the fulfillment of the above conditions or any information or document which may be prescribed. In case of non furnishing of the prescribed information or document or statement, a penalty of ₹ 5 lakh shall be leviable on the fund.

It is also proposed to clarify that this regime shall not have any impact on taxability of any income of the eligible investment fund which would have been chargeable to tax irrespective of whether the activity of the eligible fund manager constituted the business connection in India of such fund or not. Further, the proposed regime shall not have any effect on the scope of total income or determination of total income in the case of the eligible fund manager.

These amendments will take effect from 1st April, 2016 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to the assessment year 2016-17 and subsequent assessment years.