DOMESTIC COMPANY ...has made prescribed arrangements to declare dividend

[DEV KUMAR KOTHARI]

In section 2.22A of IT Act, and also in various Finance Act / Bill for example recent Finance Bill 2020 also we find meaning / definition of domestic company in clause 2 (13) as

(13) For the purposes of this section and the First Schedule,-

(a) “domestic company” means an Indian company or any other company which, in respect of its income liable to income-tax under the Income-tax Act, for the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2018, has made the prescribed arrangements for the declaration and payment within India of the dividends (including dividends on preference shares) payable out of such income;

Rates of income-tax

I. In the case of a domestic company,- (i) where its total turnover or the gross receipt in the previous year 2017-2018 does not exceed four hundred crore rupees; 25 % of the total income

(ii) other than that referred to in item (i) 30 % of the total income my curiosity (since childhood) is about significance of underlined words namely " .... has made the prescribed arrangements for the declaration and payment within India of the dividends (....

Is it simply an old practice continuing (may be wrong) or we can say that if a company has not made arrangements to declare / pay dividend than it is not a domestic company?

hence not liable to tax, as such.

AI Summary

Domestic company definition: prescribed dividend-arrangement requirement may determine tax liability and procedural claim options.
Whether a company qualifies as a domestic company depends on the statutory requirement that it has made the prescribed arrangements for the declaration and payment within India of dividends; absence of those arrangements is queried as a basis to contend the entity is not a domestic company and thus not subject to the domestic company tax rate. Procedural options suggested include raising the claim in assessments or appeals, submitting letters to the assessing officer where e-filing is restrictive, and treating paid tax as under protest to preserve the claim.