Budget-friendly GIFT City & IFSC structures

India's international financial services centre operates on a different tax and regulatory basis from the rest of India, which makes it a distinct jurisdiction for planning purposes. Budget-friendly GIFT City & IFSC structures with a fixed fee agreed in writing before any work starts. Call the 24-hour helpline on +1 (416) 619-0068, or request a written quote today.

  • 15+Years of cross-border experience
  • 18,000+Clients served
  • 5.0Google rating
  • 4Global offices — India, USA, Canada & UAE

Secure a fixed quote

Whatever documents you hold are enough to begin: we read them and put a fixed price in writing first.

24-hour helpline: +1 (416) 619-0068
  • 15+ years of cross-border experience
  • 18,000+ clients served
  • Fixed fee agreed before work starts
The short answer

India's international financial services centre operates on a different tax and regulatory basis from the rest of India, which makes it a distinct jurisdiction for planning purposes. Units established there access specified exemptions and concessions subject to conditions, and fund and treasury structures are the common use cases.

Does this bind you?

  • You own or control a company outside your country of residence
  • Money moves between group companies as fees, interest or dividends
  • Your entity is treated differently by each of the two countries
  • You are planning a reorganisation, a sale or a wind-up
  • The structure was built one decision at a time and never reviewed

If any of that is familiar, keep reading. If none of it is, the shortest route is to describe your own situation and let us name the right page for it.

The firm’s founder at his desk in the Delhi office

Gift city & IFSC structures — priced before we start

The fee on a GIFT City or IFSC structure follows how far the question goes: testing whether a unit is eligible and which permitted activities fit is one piece of work, and modelling a fund or treasury vehicle against its conditions and the sunset on particular concessions is another. Both are quoted in writing first.

PE / structure opinion — fixed-fee price

From $999

fixed, quoted before work starts

A written opinion on whether the activity creates a taxable presence, what would be attributable to it if it did, and what could be changed to alter the answer.
See the full fee page

T2 with foreign income — fixed-fee price

From $999

fixed, quoted before work starts

The Canadian corporate return with the cross-border schedules that travel with it — foreign income, payments to non-residents, and the foreign affiliate flags.
See the full fee page

Corporate cross-border filing

From $999

fixed, quoted before work starts

Returns for companies with foreign subsidiaries, foreign income or foreign shareholders, and the schedules each of those triggers.
See the fee schedule

Transfer pricing documentation

From $2,500

fixed, quoted before work starts

Local file, master file and benchmarking for groups trading across borders, documented to the standard the authority expects.
See the fee schedule

Payroll & mobility setup

From $999

fixed, quoted before work starts

The employer side of mobility — where to register, what to withhold, and what to report once someone works across a border.
See the fee schedule

Individual tax filing

From $349

fixed, quoted before work starts

A personal filing built from your own documents — employment, investment and rental income across borders, with the treaty position set out.
See the fee schedule

Foreign asset & information reporting

From $349

fixed, quoted before work starts

Foreign holdings mapped once — accounts, real property, shareholdings — then reported to each authority in the form it requires.
See the fee schedule

Non-resident & departure filings

From $349

fixed, quoted before work starts

For anyone taxed by a country they do not live in — rent, pensions and investment income reaching across a border after the move.
See the fee schedule

All published fees on one page — one page, every published fee, nothing quoted as a vague bracket.

What is really being tested

India's international financial services centre operates on a different tax and regulatory basis from the rest of India, which makes it a distinct jurisdiction for planning purposes.

Units established there access specified exemptions and concessions subject to conditions, and fund and treasury structures are the common use cases. Eligibility, permitted activities and the sunset of particular concessions decide whether it fits.

Two things follow from that. The first is that the outcome is decided by facts you can arrange and evidence you can keep, rather than by how the return is completed at the end of the year. The second is that sequence matters: the same steps taken in a different order can produce a materially different result, which is why the first conversation is about dates and documents rather than forms.

Thresholds and rates move, and summaries written for last year are not evidence about this one. So each figure in your file is sourced to the issuing authority for the specific year; anything we cannot source, we describe as a mechanism and leave unquantified until it can be confirmed. See also business restructuring & exit charges and intercompany loan pricing.

What we actually file

  • Substance evidence for any entity relying on treaty access
  • Wind-up and final-period filings where an entity is being closed
  • Corporate returns in each jurisdiction with their cross-border schedules
  • Foreign affiliate, controlled-corporation and related-party information returns
  • Classification and rollover elections, filed on time

The arithmetic, worked through

Put numbers against it and the shape of the answer is obvious.

Credit relief on one stream of income

Take C$177,000 of income taxed in both countries. Assume the other country charged 32% on it and the home country would charge 34% on the same amount.

Credit relief on one stream of income
ItemAmount
Income taxed in both countriesC$177,000
Tax paid abroad (assumed 32%)C$56,640
Home tax on the same income (assumed 34%)C$60,180
Credit available (lesser of the two)C$56,640
Home tax still payableC$3,540

The credit absorbs C$56,640 and leaves C$3,540 payable at home, because the home rate on this income is the higher of the two. The balance is real cash and it is due on the home timetable, which is why instalments get raised in the first meeting. Change any one of those inputs and the answer moves, which is why we run it on your own figures rather than on an illustration.

Illustrative figures, not a client engagement: the amounts are chosen to make the mechanism legible, and the rates and thresholds are assumptions stated for the example only. We confirm every one of them against the issuing authority for your own tax year before anything is filed.

How the engagement runs

  1. 1A call to the 24-hour helpline to find out whether this is a filing or a project
  2. 2A fixed fee for a written scope — re-quoted if the scope changes, never invoiced silently
  3. 3Preparation against the evidence, with the positions documented as we go
  4. 4Your approval, then the filing — in that order

What it costs

What it costs is settled at the start. We establish the scope on a short call, quote a fixed fee against it in writing, and that is the number on the invoice. Comparable engagements and their fixed fees are set out on the pricing pages.

  • Every statutory figure in your file is verified for your own year at source.
  • Nothing is filed until you have read it.
  • A 24-hour helpline, +1 (416) 619-0068, before you commit to anything.

What to do next

If you already have an adviser, we will tell you what they should be asking rather than replacing them. Bring the last two years of returns from each country involved, the slips or certificates for the income in question, and the dates — arrival, departure, or the transaction date. That is enough for us to tell you what has to be filed and what it will cost.

Reviewed for accuracy for the 2025 and 2026 filing seasons by Udit Gupta, Cross-Border Tax Expert, Legal Quotient Consultants. Written as general guidance, not as a recommendation for your situation. Talk it through with us before acting on it.

Business tax advisory, in practice

Most readers of this page are looking for business tax advisory. What follows sets out how it works for GIFT City & IFSC structures: who is caught by it, what has to be filed, and what the work costs, agreed before it begins.

India's international financial services centre operates on a different tax and regulatory basis from the rest of India, which makes it a distinct jurisdiction for planning purposes.

How the engagement runs, phase by phase

  1. Hand over the paperwork in any state

    Sorting it is our job. Send what exists and we identify what is missing from it.

  2. Priced before a single form is opened

    The fee comes from the documents, agreed in writing, and stays where it was agreed.

  3. One position across every return

    The same facts, filed consistently on each side, so nothing contradicts anything else.

  4. Filed after you have read it

    The completed work reaches you before it reaches an authority.

What you are actually buying with gift city & IFSC structures

Factor Legal Quotient Hourly billing model
Pricing A fixed fee, agreed in writing before work starts Hourly, billed as incurred
Experience 15+ years of cross-border work, 18,000+ clients Varies by file
Both sides of the border Prepared together by one team, so relief is claimed exactly once One country at a time, reconciled later
Who reviews it A named practitioner, published on the page Whoever the queue reaches
Where the work happens Our offices in India, the USA, Canada and the UAE Whichever single office you can travel to

Four terms worth pinning down

Clubbing of income
The Indian attribution of income back to a transferor where assets were transferred to a spouse or certain relatives without adequate consideration.
Saving clause
A treaty provision preserving a country's right to tax its own citizens and residents as if the treaty did not exist, which is why many articles do less for a US citizen than they appear to.
FEMA
India's exchange-control law, which defines residence differently from tax law and governs which accounts may be held and how funds may move.
Newcomer
Someone who has become resident during the year. Property held on arrival is generally treated as acquired at that day's value, which is why arrival-value evidence is worth keeping.
gift city & IFSC structures: How we read this one

Units established there access specified exemptions and concessions subject to conditions, and fund and treasury structures are the common use cases.

The engagement terms hold no matter what the analysis finds — fee and scope agreed in writing up front, a named reviewer on the output, your approval before the finished work is filed.

The published fees closest to gift city & IFSC structures

These published fees assume a single proposed unit. Where a group already holds entities outside the centre, or the IFSC step has to be fitted to an existing holding chain reaching more than one country, the review is wider and the quoted figure reflects that.

Transfer pricing documentation

$2,500fixed, before work starts

Covers: Benchmarking and documentation for related-party dealings, prepared to the standard the reviewing authority applies.

See this fee page

Payroll & mobility setup

$999fixed, before work starts

Covers: Employer registration and withholding for staff on assignment, arranged before the first pay run rather than corrected after it.

See this fee page

The difference a dedicated cross-border team makes

4 global offices

Meet us in person in India, the USA, Canada and the UAE, or send everything through the secure portal — the same process either way.

The fee is fixed before we start

Quoted from your documents and agreed in writing. The number you accept is the number you pay.

The order of filing is planned, not improvised

Which return goes first decides whether relief can be claimed at all. That sequence is worked out before anything is submitted.

A named reviewer on every file

Every page on this site and every file we deliver says which practitioner reviewed it — a person, not a team inbox.

The team at work in the open-plan office

How the engagement runs, phase by phase

Step 1

Establishing the facts

We establish what happened and when, because every position here is anchored to a date

Step 2

Agreeing the fee

A written scope and a fixed price, so you know the cost before committing

Step 3

Drafting and review

The filings are prepared, cross-checked against each other, and reviewed by name

Step 4

Filing and follow-up

You see the result, approve it, and we file it

Two of the firm’s advisers at the glass desk in the Delhi office

The engagement, start to finish

  • Step 1: Tell us the dates and we will tell you the position – Arrival, departure, the years in between — the residence question turns on those before anything else.
  • Step 2: Fixed fee, defined scope, in writing – Both agreed before work starts, so the engagement cannot grow into a larger bill.
  • Step 3: Prepared together, not passed between firms – You are not the go-between for two sets of advisers working from two sets of assumptions.
  • Step 4: Reviewed, approved, filed – A named practitioner checks it, you approve it, and then it goes.

Quoted up front, in writing.

Contact Us 24-hour helpline +1 (416) 619-0068

Where to go next

Every link below is a full page of its own — the same depth as this one, for its own subject.

Core services for this situation

Form 1040-ES — estimated tax from abroad Form 1040-es estimated tax abroad — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Cost-sharing arrangements The full guide to cost-sharing arrangements, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Liberalised Remittance Scheme and TCS on remittances Its own page: liberalised remittance scheme and TCS on remittances — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
NFTs across borders Everything on NFTs across borders, at the same depth as this page.
Form NR5 — reduced Part XIII withholding Nr5 reduced part xiii withholding — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Form SS-4 — EIN application The full guide to form ss-4 EIN application, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Form ITR-7 — trusts & institutions (India) Its own page: ITR-7 India — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Real estate holding structures Everything on real estate holding structures, at the same depth as this page.
Section 195 — TDS on payments abroad (India) Section 195 India — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.

Who we help

Software developers — relief you're probably missing Software developers relief you're probably missing — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Tax for mining engineers & geologists The full guide to mining engineers & geologists tax, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Touring musicians — what you owe in each country Its own page: touring musicians what you owe in each country — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Oil & gas rotational workers — what we charge Everything on oil & gas rotational workers what we charge, at the same depth as this page.
Professors & lecturers — your filing calendar Professors & lecturers your filing calendar — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
IT staffing firms cross-border tax The full guide to it staffing firms cross border tax, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Airline pilots — what we charge Its own page: airline pilots what we charge — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Dev & design agencies cross-border tax Everything on dev & design agencies cross border tax, at the same depth as this page.
Engineering firms cross-border tax Engineering firms cross border tax — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.

Where our clients live and work

Canada–United States tax corridor Canada United States tax — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Oman tax for expats — country guide The full guide to Oman tax for expats, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Tanzania tax for expats — country guide Its own page: tanzania tax for expats — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Philippines tax for expats — country guide Everything on Philippines tax for expats, at the same depth as this page.
Colombia tax for expats — country guide Colombia tax for expats — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Canada–United Kingdom tax corridor The full guide to Canada United Kingdom tax, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
India–Singapore tax corridor Its own page: India Singapore tax — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Chile tax for expats — country guide Everything on Chile tax for expats, at the same depth as this page.
Bangladesh tax for expats — country guide Bangladesh tax for expats — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.

The people on your file

Five named practitioners, each with the part of a cross-border file they carry. Every page on this site says who reviewed it, and the reviewer is one of these people rather than an unnamed team.

Udit Gupta

Udit Gupta

Cross-Border Tax Expert

CA (ICAI), In-Depth Tax Trained

Reviews and signs off the practice's cross-border positions, and carries final responsibility for the treaty analysis on every file that leaves the office.

Abhinav Gupta

Abhinav Gupta

Canada Tax / International Tax

Canada Tax, International Tax, Cross-Border Tax, Transfer Pricing

Canadian returns with foreign income, non-resident filings, and the transfer-pricing documentation that runs alongside intercompany work.

Raghav Gupta

Raghav Gupta

International Tax

International Tax, Transfer Pricing Specialist

Benchmarking, method selection and the local-file and master-file sets that support a group's pricing policy under examination.

Anmol Mittal

Anmol Mittal

Canada and US tax

CPA Canada, CPA USA, CA (ICAI)

Files that have to be right on both sides of the border at once — dual filings, streamlined catch-ups, and the foreign tax credit reconciliation between them.

Vinayak Indolia

Vinayak Indolia

CFO advisory

CPA, CA. Fractional CFO and Senior Advisory Specialist

Groups that need the tax position and the finance function to agree: structure reviews, intercompany policy, and the reporting a board can act on.

Meet the whole team

Files that look like this one

Case study 1

Fifteen Per Cent Held Back From a Fee for Services in Canada

A payer must withhold from fees paid to a non-resident for services rendered in Canada, whether or not any tax is ultimately owed. A waiver applied for before the work is invoiced avoids the withholding; after it, the money comes back through a return.

Read how this one runs
Case study 2

Documentation Requested, and the Deadline Is Not Extendable

Contemporaneous documentation has to exist by the filing deadline, not be assembled when it is asked for, and the penalty protection turns on that timing. The engagement produces the analysis for the year in question and puts a repeatable process behind the next one.

Read how this one runs
Case study 3

US Estate Tax on Assets a Canadian Did Not Know Were Exposed

US shares and US real estate sit inside the US estate tax net regardless of where the owner lives. The treaty provides relief that is proportionate rather than automatic, and the calculation depends on the worldwide estate.

Read how this one runs
Case study 4

An Estate Using Its Graduated Rates in Time

The favourable rate treatment an estate can access is time-limited and conditional, and it is lost by administration rather than by decision. The file identifies the window and the filings that keep it open.

Read how this one runs
Case study 5

A Margin Defended With a Benchmarking Set That Fits the Facts

A comparables set is only as good as the screening behind it, and a rejected set takes the margin with it. The study selects the tested party first, screens on function rather than on industry code, and records why each comparable survived.

Read how this one runs
Case study 6

A Taxable Presence Created Without an Office

A dependent agent habitually concluding contracts can create a permanent establishment where there is no premises at all. The review tests what the person actually does against what the treaty describes.

Read how this one runs
Case study 7

An Indian Company Paying a Foreign Supplier

Payments abroad carry deduction at source and a certification filed before the money moves. Whether the treaty reduces the rate depends on what is being bought, and the classification is the decision the whole filing rests on.

Read how this one runs
Case study 8

An Assignment Priced Without Counting the Days

Nearly every relief in a mobility file — treaty exemption, residence, social security — is decided by a day count that has to be evidenced. The engagement puts the tracking in place at the start, because it cannot be reconstructed at the end.

Read how this one runs

All case studies — every published engagement in one place.

Core International & Cross-Border Tax Services

International Tax Planning & Advisory

Strategy and compliance for income, assets and families spread across borders.

One coordinating team: filings on every side of the border are sequenced so treaty relief and foreign tax credits are claimed once — and in the right country.

U.S. & Cross-Border Tax Returns

Dual filers: U.S. citizens in Canada and Canadians with U.S. income run two parallel systems — we prepare both, in the right order, every year.

Expat & Emigration Tax

The move year is its own project: the elections and valuations filed that year decide the next decade of both countries’ returns.

Non-Resident Canadian Tax

Default withholding is 25% of gross: elective returns routinely turn over-withheld rent and pensions into refunds.

Transfer Pricing & BEPS

Documentation prepared with the return is the cheapest insurance in international tax; reconstructing it during an audit is the most expensive.

Cross-Border Estates & Trusts

Wills drafted for one country routinely misfire in the other — deemed disposition here, estate tax there, credits in between.

Cross-Border Corporate Tax

Expansion raises the same four questions every time — entity, PE, repatriation, payroll. We answer them before the tax authorities do.

India Tax for NRIs & Returning Residents

The deduction is taken on the sale price, not the gain — which is why an NRI property sale strands cash unless the certificate is applied for before closing.

Canadian Tax with a Foreign Element

Residency is decided on facts, not on a form — and the year you arrive or leave is the one where the largest amounts turn on the smallest details.

UAE Tax for Expats & Their Home Country

A zero-tax country is only half the answer — the question that decides the bill is whether the country you came from still treats you as resident.

Industries & Client Types We Serve Worldwide

Global E-commerce & Marketplaces
Technology & SaaS
Professional Services Firms
Cross-Border Real Estate
Importers, Exporters & Manufacturers
Athletes, Artists & Entertainers
Remote Workers & Digital Nomads
Investment Funds & Holding Companies

Global E-commerce & Marketplaces

  • Foreign VAT / GST / sales tax registrations
  • Marketplace withholding reviews
  • Inventory nexus & PE analysis
  • Multi-currency books reconciled
Explore E-commerce & Marketplaces

Technology & SaaS

  • Cross-border revenue sourcing & withholding
  • IP structuring with real substance
  • Equity for cross-border teams
  • U.S. expansion: entity & PE setup
Explore Technology & SaaS

Importers, Exporters & Manufacturers

  • Transfer pricing documentation (s.247)
  • Customs value vs transfer price
  • Foreign affiliate reporting (T1134)
  • Country-by-country reporting
Explore Trade & Manufacturing

Athletes, Artists & Entertainers

  • Reg 105 & U.S. CWA agreements
  • Multi-state & country calendars
  • Touring income allocation
  • Royalty & image-rights withholding
Explore Athletes & Entertainers

Remote Workers & Digital Nomads

  • Residency analysis before moving
  • Employer payroll exposure
  • Totalization & social security
  • Foreign tax credits
Explore Remote Workers

Investment Funds & Holding Companies

Holding structures live or die on treaty access, beneficial ownership and substance — the MLI's principal-purpose test now sits over every arrangement.

A holding structure is only as good as its reporting. Foreign affiliates, accrued passive income and distributions each carry their own return, and the penalties on those attach to the form rather than to any tax being owed — so a structure that saves tax can still cost money if the information returns are late.

  • Treaty access & PPT reviews
  • FAPI & surplus computations
  • Withholding-efficient routing
  • Governance & substance
Explore Funds & Holdcos

GIFT City & IFSC structures — questions we are asked

GIFT City & IFSC structures — where does doing it myself start to cost money?

Some of it, yes — and we will say so on the call if that is the honest answer. The parts that are worth paying for are the ones where a missed election, a missed deadline or an unverified threshold costs more than the fee: units established there access specified exemptions and concessions subject to conditions, and fund and treasury structures are the common use cases.

What if I have already filed and got it wrong?

That is a common starting point. We re-derive the position, identify whether an amendment or a disclosure route is the right vehicle, and tell you which one preserves the relief that is still available. The order matters more than the speed.

How long will it take?

It depends on the documents rather than on us. Once the pack is complete most filings turn around inside a fortnight; anything that needs a certificate from a tax authority runs on that authority's timetable, which we tell you at the start rather than at the end.

Is "fund transfer pricing" the same thing as transfer pricing?

No — and if you came here to calculate FTP, this is not it. Fund transfer pricing is a bank's internal allocation of funding costs and benefits between its own business units, a treasury and asset-liability management discipline used to measure branch or product profitability. Tax transfer pricing is about prices between legally separate related parties across borders, and about which country taxes the resulting profit. The words overlap; the fields do not. See our transfer pricing work.

What counts as foreign income, and what is a foreign tax?

Foreign income is income sourced outside the country you are filing in — where the work was done, where the property sits, where the payer is resident, depending on the type. A foreign tax, for credit purposes, is a levy imposed by another country that functions as an income tax and that you were legally required to pay. Consumption taxes, property taxes and most social contributions are not, however real the cost. Sourcing is decided by rule, not by which bank received it. See the foreign tax credit.

How do I actually stop being taxed twice?

In this order. Fix your residence under each country's own rules, and if both claim you, apply the treaty tie-breaker. Identify where each type of income is sourced. Read the article that covers that income type, because it decides who taxes and at what maximum rate. Then claim the relief on the residence-country return, with proof of the foreign tax. Most of the tax people lose to double taxation is lost at the last step, not the first. See how double taxation is relieved.

What time zones do you work across?

Consultations are scheduled to your working day rather than ours, and the portal means the document flow does not depend on overlapping hours at all.

Do you keep my documents?

For the retention period the professional rules require, in the same access-controlled system, and no longer than that.

15+ years of cross-border experience

Gift city & IFSC structures, quoted before we start

One short call, one fixed quote in writing, and your approval before anything is filed.

  • Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars on Google
  • Offices in India, the USA, Canada and the UAE
  • Fixed fees agreed before work starts

Our practitioners are alumni of leading accounting and tax institutions

Where our partners studied — CPA Canada (In-Depth Tax Program), AICPA, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and the Malaysian Institute of Accountants.

Request a Quote +1 (416) 619-0068