Section 10AA Deduction

Section 10AA is a provision under the Income Tax Act which allows taxpayers to take deductions for businesses which are established in Special Economic Zones (SEZ). In April 2000, with a view to attracting foreign investment in India, the Government announced that tax concessions would be provided for entrepreneurs who set up the specified businesses in Special Economic Zones. Accordingly, initially, SEZs were instituted to function under the provisions of the Foreign Trade Policy. However, gradually, the SEZ Act and SEZ rules were formed and made effective from the year 2006. Income tax benefit or Section 10AA deduction is available to SEZ and the corresponding provisions are contained under section 10AA of the Income Tax Act. The present article highlights the various conditions for claiming the deduction under Section 10AA, the amount of income tax benefit/deduction available under the section, and other salient features of the section.

Eligibility for Section 10AA Deduction

In order to claim deduction under section 10AA of the Income Tax Act, SEZ units are required to satisfy the following conditions:

The entrepreneur should be covered within the provisions of section 2 (j) of the Special Economic Zone Act, 2005;
SEZ unit should have commenced its manufacturing activity or provision of service, as the case may be, during the previous year relevant to any assessment year commencing on or after 1st April 2006;
SEZ unit is not formed by any splitting up, or the reconstruction of the business that is already in existence;
SEZ unit is not formed by any transfer of plant or machinery, previously used for any purpose, to a new business; and
Units who have already enjoyed the benefit of deduction under section 10A of the Income Tax Act for a continuous period of 10 years are not eligible to claim deduction under Section 10AA of the Act.

Amount of Deduction

The amount of deduction available under this section shall be as follows:

100% of export profit is eligible for the deduction for the first five years.
50% of export profit is eligible for the deduction for the next five years.
Amount not exceeding 50% of export profit is eligible for the deduction for the next five years.

The condition for allowance of the deduction is that the same has to be debited from the Statement of Profit and Loss and credited to ‘Special Economic Zone Reinvestment Reserve Account’. Also, Section 10AA deduction is allowable from the assessment year relevant to the previous year in which the SEZ unit commences its manufacturing process or commences provision of service, as the case may be.

Special Economic Zone Reinvestment Reserve Account

There are certain conditions to be followed by the assessee, in order to claim a deduction of the last 5 years (i.e. amount not exceeding 50% of the export profit), as detailed above. The conditions for utilization of amount credited in ‘Special Economic Zon Reinvestment Reserve Account’ are summarized hereunder:

The amount credited to ‘Special Economic Zone Reinvestment Reserve Account’ is required to be utilized only for the purpose of purchase of plant or machinery. Such newly acquired plant or machinery should be first put to use before the expiry of 3 years following the previous year in which the said reserve has been created.
Further, the amount credited to ‘Special Economic Zone Reinvestment Reserve Account’, until the acquisition of the plant or machinery as mentioned in point 1 above, can be used for the purpose of the business of the undertaking. However, the same cannot be used for distribution by way of dividend or profits or for remittance of profits outside India or for creation of any assets outside India.

The following are the consequence in case the reserve fund is not used as per the directions of the Income Tax Act: The amount credited to ‘Special Economic Zone Reinvestment Reserve Account’ would be deemed to be profitable in the year immediately following the period of three years in case the amount is not utilized for the purchase of plant or machinery as directed. Further, the amount credited to ‘Special Economic Zone Reinvestment Reserve Account’ would be deemed to be profitable in the year in which the amount has been utilized for a purpose other than directed.

Calculating Section 10AA Deduction

Section 10AA Deduction has to be calculated on the basis of the following formula:

(Profit of business of the unit x Export turnover of the unit) / Total turnover of the business.

Export turnover of the unit means consideration relating to export by the undertaking received in or brought into India. Such turnover/consideration does not include freight, telecommunication charges or insurance expense incurred for the delivery of a product or consumable item outside India or any other expense incurred in foreign exchange for the rendering of services outside India.

Amalgamation or Merger

Following would be the consequence in case the unit entitled for deduction under section 10AA has been transferred to another undertaking, before the expiry of deduction period, in a scheme of amalgamation or demerger –

The deduction will not be available under section 10AA to the amalgamating or demerged unit, as the case may be, for the previous year in which the amalgamation or demerger has taken place; and
Further, provisions of section 10AA should be applied to the amalgamated or demerged unit assuming no amalgamation or demerger has taken place.

To know about the concept of Special Economic Zones in India, click here.

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