Webinar

Denial of tax treaty benefits: Blueprinting defence strategies for PE funds – A tax litigation perspective

Wednesday, June 8, 2022

5.00 pm to 6.30 pm IST | 7.30 am to 9.00 am EST | 7.30 pm to 9.00 pm SGT

In collaboration with

Webinar

Denial of tax treaty benefits: Blueprinting defence strategies for PE funds – A tax litigation perspective

Wednesday , June 8, 2022

5.00 pm to 6.30 pm IST
7.30 am to 9.00 am EST
7.30 pm to 9.00 pm SGT

Introduction

The tax department has recently reopened assessments of several global fund houses (including notable PE firms) and retrospectively denied treaty benefits under the Mauritius and Singapore Treaties on the basis that these entities had indulged in fiscal evasion by means of treaty shopping, as their place of effective management was not, in fact, in Mauritius or Singapore. Though grandfathered under GAAR, department has invoked judicial GAAR and denied tax treaty benefits, slapped substantial tax demands along with interest for prior assessment years, and levied penalties for under-reporting of income, in accordance with the provisions of the Income-tax Act.   Revenue has also disallowed carry forward of losses from the grandfathered years. This issue is also centre stage in several ongoing assessments as well as deal negotiations since pre 2017 investments are yet to be fully harvested. 

 

There is also the angle of indirect share transfers and possible treaty exemptions for such transactions even for post 2017 acquisitions.  Add to this the complexity of converting shares from preference to equity, mergers and demergers.

 

We invite you to join us for an interaction as we carefully evaluate defence strategies for the proceedings, analyze different fact patterns, delve into case laws where the Revenue has been successful, and revisit what ‘substance’ and purpose mean in the evolving sphere of global tax jurisprudence. 

Agenda

5.00pm - 6.00pm IST

  • What was the trigger for the assessments and reassessments?
  • Analysing fact sets where decisions went against the taxpayer?
  • Recent case law updates and discussion on ‘beneficial ownership’ and ‘substance’
  • What legal steps can now be taken against such proceedings?
  • Can funds carry forward capital losses for grandfathered years?
  • Analysing evolution of GAAR and MLI
  • Establishing substance post 2017 – checks and balances?
  • Indirect share transfers and continuing treaty exemptions – establishing strong basis for the claims
  • Negotiating positions in transactions and possible indemnity consequences
  • Considerations and risk mitigations for GPs 
  • Tax Insurance – Costs, exclusions and efficacy?

6.00pm - 6.30pm IST

Q&A round

5.00pm - 6.00pm IST

  • What was the trigger for the assessments and reassessments?
  • Analysing fact sets where decisions went against the taxpayer?
  • Recent case law updates and discussion on ‘beneficial ownership’ and ‘substance’
  • What legal steps can now be taken against such proceedings?
  • Can funds carry forward capital losses for grandfathered years?
  • Analysing evolution of GAAR and MLI
  • Establishing substance post 2017 – checks and balances?
  • Indirect share transfers and continuing treaty exemptions – establishing strong basis for the claims
  • Negotiating positions in transactions and possible indemnity consequences
  • Considerations and risk mitigations for GPs 
  • Tax Insurance – Costs, exclusions and efficacy?

6.00pm - 6.30pm IST

Q&A round

Speakers

Abhishek Goenka

Partner

Aeka Advisors

Abhishek Goenka, is the Founder and Partner at Aeka Advisors, a boutique tax and regulatory advisory firm.  Abhishek has close to 3 decades of experience having been in Andersen, EY, BMR Advisors and PwC.  While in PwC, he was the India leader for Corporate and International Tax. 

 

Abhishek has the unique credentials of having held an operating role as CEO of the RMZ Family Office and at CoWrks. Abhishek has been actively engaged in advising RE, PE and VC Funds on their set-up as well as India investments and exits.  Recently, Abhishek has been involved in several marquee M&A transactions in the Fintech space.  Abhishek is also known for his expertise in setting up governance frameworks and on succession planning.  Abhishek is well versed with the various operating models of single and multi-family offices. 

 

Abhishek is a graduate in Commerce from the University of Bangalore and qualified as a rank-holding Chartered Accountant in 1996.

 

Kushal Agrawal

Partner & CFO

Lightrock

Kushal is a Partner and CFO of Lightrock India. He is passionate about working with companies in their formative phase and helps with strategic and financial planning, process implementation, performance management and risk management. Kushal’s previous engagements include Financial Controller at Zovi.com and significant stints at ITC and PWC. He is a meritorious Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and a graduate in Commerce from St. Xavier’s College. Kushal is passionate about wildlife and photography and does not miss a chance to escape to the jungles!

Amit Solanki

President

Liability and Special Risks at Howden Insurance Brokers India Pvt. Ltd.

Amit is the President of Liability & Specialty Lines at Howden India. Amit has over 15 years of experience across top insurance brokers and has handled M&A Tax related insurances during his stints at Marsh, JLT Insurance Brokers and now at Howden India. Amit has extensive M&A insurance placement experience including a large placement of a ½ a billion dollar R&W policy for an Indian client’s acquisition in the US. He has been instrumental in building a team of highly expert liability lines professionals to deliver tailor made solutions for some of the largest corporates in India.

Anandu unnikrishnan

International Tax Lead

Resolüt Partners

Anandu advises and represents clients on international tax issues and tax structuring across both contentious and non-contentious mandates. He has acted for several PE/VC funds and multi-national corporations on their Indian inbound and outbound investments and is regularly instructed to lead complex tax proceedings at all appellate levels across several sectors, including IT & ITeS, financial services, industrials, and infrastructure.

He has advised the Government of India on taxation of financial markets transactions in the lead up to its annual budget announcements. He has also previously advised the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and the Government Law College, Bombay in setting up their post-graduate diploma programmes in international tax and securities taxation respectively.

 

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Ruchir Sinha

Managing Partner

Resolüt Partners

Ruchir has 17 years of experience advising clients primarily on private equity, PIPE, M&A and structured finance transactions. With background in fund formation and tax, he has been involved in developing the first generation of asset-specific tax optimized investment platforms and managed accounts. He advises leading global financial sponsors, SWFs and other institutional investors on private equity and PIPE deals primarily focusing on financial services (BFSI), technology and infrastructure sectors, few of which have been recognized as most innovative by Financial Times, London.. He was involved in structuring the first unlisted InvIT, and advised on several other listed InvITs. He regularly advises strategic acquirers, SWFs and other global sponsors on cross border deals in listed and unlisted space, with a special focus on control deals.

 

Ruchir has been rated as a ‘distinguished practitioner’ for years 2021 and 2022 by AsiaLaw and nominated as ‘Dealmaker of the Year’ by Asian Legal Business. Ruchir co-chairs APREA’s Infrastructure and InvITs committee and has been closely involved in the development of the SEBI REIT and InvIT Regulations. Prior to setting up Resolüt Partners, Ruchir worked for 14 years at Nishith Desai Associates heading the PE and M&A practice, and subsequently moved to setup the Mumbai office of Platinum Partners, since renamed as Touchstone Partners.

 

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Timings

Wednesday, June 8, 2022

5:00 PM – 6.30 PM

Contact us

 contact@resolutpartners.com

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