Union Budget 2024-25 (Full) + FINANCE (No.2) Bill, 2024

Certain amendments have been proposed to promote the cruise-shipping industry in India. The aim is to make India an attractive cruise tourism destination, to attract global tourists to cruise shipping in India and to popularise cruise shipping with Indian tourists. Participation of international cruise-ship operators in this sector will encourage development of this sector and enable access to international best practices.

2. In order to provide clarity, certainty and simple structure for the business of cruise-shipping, which may be operating as multi-layer entities, the following is proposed. A presumptive taxation regime is being put in place for a non-resident, engaged in the business of operation of cruise ships, alongwith exemption to income of a foreign company from lease rentals, if such foreign company and the non-resident cruise ship operator have the same holding company.

3. It is, therefore, proposed to insert a new section 44BBC, which deems twenty per cent of the aggregate amount received/ receivable by, or paid/ payable to, the non-resident cruise-ship operator, on account of the carriage of passengers, as profits and gains of such cruise-ship operator from this business. Applicability of this section, will be subject to prescribed conditions.

4. Provisions of section 44B relating to presumptive taxation for shipping business of non-residents, shall therefore, no longer apply to cruise-ship business.

5. Further, the lease rentals paid by a company which opts for presumptive regime under section 44BBC (‘the first company’), shall be exempt in the hands of the recipient company, if such company is a foreign company and such recipient company and the first company are subsidiaries of the same holding company. This is proposed to be done by insertion of a new clause (15B) in section 10. Subsidiary company and holding company have been defined in the Explanation to this new clause. This exemption shall be available upto assessment year 2030-31.

6. These amendments will take effect from the 1st day of April, 2025 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to the assessment year 2025-26 and subsequent assessment years.

[Clauses 4, 16 & 17]

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Full Text:

Union Budget 2024-25 (Full) + FINANCE (No.2) Bill, 2024

Presumptive taxation for non-resident cruise operators establishes deemed profit treatment and conditional lease rental exemption for related companies. A new presumptive taxation regime for non-resident cruise-ship operators deems a fixed proportion of amounts received or receivable for carriage of passengers as profits from that business, replacing the existing presumptive shipping provisions for cruise-ship activity. Additionally, lease rentals paid by a company opting into this regime to a foreign recipient will be exempt in the hands of that recipient if both are subsidiaries of the same holding company, with defined subsidiary/holding relationships and a time-bound availability.