Income tax department moves SC in Genpact tax case

New Delhi: The income tax department has moved the Supreme Court challenging a Delhi High Court decision that refused reopening of Genpact Consulting Singapore Pte's income tax assessment for financial year 2014-15. The assessee, a tax resident of Singapore, had in 2015 sold 14,86,025 equity shares held in Genpact India to its wholly owned Indian subsidiary, Empower Research Knowledge Services Private (now Genpact India).

The department stated that these transactions were carried out between the group entities as part of a grand tax avoidance scheme designed by the Genpact group. It further alleged that it was Genpact India's motive to avoid the payment of a dividend distribution tax under Section 115-O of the Income Tax Act.

A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant will hear the case next week. The Assessing Officer had accepted the assessee's stand that in view of the exemption embodied in Section 47(O) of the Income Tax Act, it was not liable to be considered as a transfer for the purposes of computation of capital gains.