NEW DELHI: Budget 2017 left much to be desired for the startups. However, the tax breaks is still only available on the profits made by startups for three years. Notably, this tax sop is only available to those startups which are recognised by the DIPP (Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion).Although refusing to remove the Minimum Alternative Tax (MAT), as requested by the startups, FM Arun Jaitley has allowed the companies to carry forward their MAT to 15 years from the present period of five years. This provides the companies an additional five years before they become liable to pay their MAT.In order to give the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises a breather, the FM proposed to reduce the Income Tax for those companies with an annual turnover of upto Rs 50 crore to 25%. This gives the MSMEs a reduction of 5% from the current applicable rate of 30%.This will benefit 96 percent (6.67 lakh) of companies in India at the expense of the government forgoing Rs 7,200 crore of revenue.

Source: Economic Times February 01, 2017 08:44 UTC