4.3 The provisions of section 115TD to apply to any trust or institution under the first regime.

i) Chapter XII-EB was introduced by the Finance Act, 2016. It provides for the taxation of accreted income of the trust in certain cases. A society or a company or a trust or an institution carrying on charitable activity may voluntarily wind up its activities and dissolve or may also merge with any other charitable or non-charitable institution, or it may convert into a non-charitable organization. In order to ensure that the intended purpose of exemption availed by trust or institution is achieved, a specific provision in the Act was brought about for imposing a levy in the nature of an exit tax which is attracted when the organisation is converted into a non-charitable organisation or gets merged with a non-charitable organisation or a charitable organisation with dissimilar objects or does not transfer the assets to another charitable organisation. Accordingly, a new Chapter XII-EB consisting of Sections 115TD, 115TE and 115TF was inserted in the Act.

ii) The provisions of the Chapter XII-EB have been made applicable to only the trusts or institutions under the second regime. However, the provisions are not applicable to any trust or institution under the first regime.

iii) Hence, it is proposed to amend the provisions of section 115TD, 115TE and 115TF of the Act to make them applicable to any trust or institution under the first regime as well.

iv) These amendments will take effect from 1st April, 2023 and will accordingly apply in relation to the assessment year 2023-24 and subsequent assessment years.

[Clauses 31, 32 and 33]

 

Exit tax on trusts extended to first regime entities, covering conversions, mergers and asset transfers under the amended provisions. The Finance Bill proposes to extend Chapter XII-EB's exit tax provisions to trusts and institutions under the first regime by making Sections 115TD, 115TE and 115TF applicable to them, thereby subjecting conversions to non charitable status, mergers with non charitable or dissimilar charitable entities, and failures to transfer assets to a levy on accreted income; the amendment is effective from the commencement of the specified fiscal year and applies to subsequent assessment years.