MAT and AMT for foreign-owned companies — what part of this actually needs a professional?
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: the minimum tax applies where the normal computation produces less, with credit for the excess carried forward.
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.
Why does my Indian company owe tax when it made a loss?
Because India computes a minimum tax from the accounting result. Where the normal computation produces a smaller figure, because of reliefs, a holiday, or losses brought forward, the minimum charge computed from book profit can still apply. A company can therefore have nothing to pay on its tax computation and something to pay on its books. What is paid above the normal liability is not simply lost: credit for the excess is carried forward for use in later years when the normal computation is the higher of the two. Working out which computation is driving your liability is the starting point for any planning.
Does minimum tax apply to a foreign company with no office in India?
The application of the minimum tax to foreign companies without an Indian presence has been the subject of specific clarification, which is a polite way of saying the question caused enough difficulty to need answering. The practical consequence is that the entity's status is what the analysis turns on, not its balance sheet: whether the company has a presence in India, and what kind, comes before any computation of book profit. Where the answer is not obvious from the facts, that determination is made and documented first, because everything downstream depends on it.
What is the difference between MAT and AMT in India?
They are the same idea applied to different taxpayers. A minimum charge computed from the accounting result sits alongside the normal computation, and the higher of the two is what is paid; the version that applies depends on the form the taxpayer takes. The mechanics that matter in practice are common to both: the starting point is the book result rather than the tax computation, the adjustments made to it are prescribed, and credit for tax paid above the normal liability is carried forward. Which regime applies to you follows from your entity type rather than from your activity.
Can we use minimum tax credit from earlier years?
Credit for the excess paid over the normal liability is carried forward and set against tax in a later year when the normal computation exceeds the minimum. So the credit only becomes useful in a year where the ordinary liability is the higher of the two, which for a company still inside a relief or still absorbing losses may be some way off. Tracking it matters more than it looks: a credit nobody has kept a schedule for tends to be the one that is missed in the year it finally becomes usable. We maintain the schedule alongside the computations.
Do tax holidays and incentives protect a company from minimum tax?
Not by themselves, and that is close to the reason the charge exists. A relief that reduces the normal computation does not reduce the accounting result the minimum charge is computed from, so a company enjoying a holiday can find its liability determined by its books rather than by its computation. This is not a defect in the incentive; it is how the two charges interact. Planning around it means modelling both computations for the years the relief runs, so the group knows in advance which one will drive the tax in each year rather than discovering it at filing.
How does minimum tax affect our parent company's credit position abroad?
It is a separate analysis and it should be run alongside, not afterwards. What the Indian entity actually pays, and under which charge, is the figure the parent's own credit calculation has to work from, and a liability arising from the minimum charge rather than from the normal computation can sit awkwardly with the parent jurisdiction's rules on what is creditable. The order of work matters: settle the Indian computation and the basis on which it arose, then take that into the parent jurisdiction's analysis with the reasoning attached rather than just the amount.
What is a DTAA?
Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement — India's name for a tax treaty. It does the same work as any treaty: allocates taxing rights between India and the other country, caps Indian withholding on payments abroad, and sets out whether relief comes by exemption or by credit. To use one you generally need a tax residency certificate from the other country, Form 10F, and a PAN in the deductor's records. See DTAA relief between India and Canada.
Is my Indian provident fund or PPF still tax-free now that I live abroad?
The exemption is an Indian one, and it does not travel. Your new country of residence taxes worldwide income under its own rules, and several — the United States in particular — may treat the annual growth in a foreign retirement or savings plan as currently taxable and separately reportable, whether or not you withdrew anything. So an account that is genuinely tax-free in India can be a taxable, reportable asset where you now live. See Indian pensions received abroad.
