Taxation, Customs and Global Trade
OVERVIEW
Tax is never just a compliance exercise. For any business operating in India, whether entering the market for the first time, deploying capital into an acquisition, restructuring a group, or managing the routine obligations of an ongoing Indian operation, the tax dimension shapes every decision and touches every transaction. Acuity Law’s Corporate and International Tax practice provides end-to-end advisory on direct tax, international tax, transfer pricing, indirect tax, exchange control, and global trade and customs, giving clients a single integrated view across India’s tax and regulatory framework. With the enactment of the Income Tax Act, 2025, which replaces the Income Tax Act, 1961, businesses operating in India now face the additional task of understanding and aligning their structures and compliance processes to the new legislative framework. Our team advises on the implications of the new Act and assists clients in transitioning their tax positions, documentation, and filings accordingly.
Tax advisory at Acuity Law is delivered by a dedicated team of advisors including qualified Chartered Accountants who bring deep experience from leading international accounting firms. This team works in close and continuous collaboration with the firm’s corporate, M&A, disputes, and regulatory lawyers. The result is tax advice that is not rendered in isolation. It is always given in the context of the transaction, the regulatory framework, and the commercial objective. Clients do not receive a tax opinion and a legal opinion that they are left to reconcile; they receive a single, coherent view.
The tax practice has a strong track record advising multinational corporations doing business in India on both complex and day-to-day matters. Our advisory covers India entry strategy and optimal investment structuring, inbound and outbound transaction tax advice, tax due diligence on acquisitions and divestments, transfer pricing documentation and compliance, arm’s length pricing analysis, advance pricing agreements and related party transaction structuring, profit repatriation strategies, secondment structures, double tax treaty analysis, GST advisory and disputes, customs and import duty structuring, free trade agreement strategy and rules of origin analysis, duty remission and export incentive schemes including EPCG, Advance Authorisation, RoDTEP and SEZ operations, and trade remedies including anti-dumping and safeguard advisory. Whether the matter is a high-value cross-border acquisition or the annual compliance cycle of an established subsidiary, the team brings the same rigour to both.
ROLE
As part of the corporate and international tax advisory practice, Acuity Law provides the following services to clients:
Corporate and international tax covering analysis of:
- Double taxation avoidance agreement interpretations
- Holding company structures in foreign jurisdictions
- Strategies for mitigating Permanent Establishment exposure
- Place of Effective Management and GAAR impact
- Dispute assistance (litigation strategy including drafting and appearance)
- Withholding taxation, compliance, and reporting requirements
- Profit distribution methods from a tax and regulatory angle
Strategies for acquisitions, mergers, divestitures, diversification or consolidation of businesses to achieve desired commercial goals effectively including:
- Inbound structuring for entry into India, including jurisdiction analysis
- Externalization structures/ outbound structuring for investment outside India
- Fund taxation (including Offshore Fund and AIF) and Carry structuring
- Tax Due Diligence on Indian targets
- Group holding structures
- Profit repatriation strategies for stakeholders
- Endowment planning / wealth planning strategies
Our other offerings include:
- Global Trade, Customs and Foreign Trade Policy related assistance
- Opinions on duty/ tax savings, optimization and deferral strategies
- Advising on potential benefits arising from Free Trade Agreements and recommendations for origin management controls
- Health checks and risk assessment on technical positions adopted, compliances undertaken and disclosures made
- On call advisory and key compliances for GST
- On-site support during enquiries, investigations and audits by tax authorities, including readiness assessment for future audits
- Litigation support on matters related to the erstwhile indirect tax regime ie prior to introduction of GST
- Recommendations and hand holding for advance rulings, representations and advocacy related initiatives
Key Professionals
Income Tax
Indian Income Tax Law is governed by the Income-tax Act, 1961 (Act) and rules made thereunder. Amongst other things, the Act chiefly governs the situs of taxation, tax residency, charge of tax, classification of income, incentives / tax holidays / exemptions, tax rates and withholding of taxes, transfer pricing (or base erosion of profits test) and other anti-avoidance provisions. India has also entered into double taxation avoidance agreements with various countries.
Here we answer some of the common queries relating to applicability and scope of the Act.
Compounding Under FEMA 1999
The Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (“FEMA”) provides for compounding of contraventions by
the Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”) and the Directorate of Enforcement (“ED”). The Foreign Exchange
Management (Compounding Proceeding) Rules, 2024 (“Compounding Rules”) and the
Directions – Compounding of Contraventions under FEMA, 1999 (“Compounding Directions”) provide for the rules for compounding of offences under FEMA.
In this FAQ, we cover the concept and the procedure of compounding offences under the regulations mentioned above.
Goods and Services Tax
Goods and Services Tax (GST)was introduced in India with effect from 1 July 2017. GST is an indirect tax and has replaced a plethora of erstwhile duties, taxes, cesses and levies. The objective of GST introduction is to achieve a One Nation-One Tax regime as well as eliminate the erstwhile complex system of indirect taxation and cascading of levies. Here we discuss the fundamental structure of GST in India.
Free Trade Agreements
Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is an arrangement between two or more countries or trading blocs that agree facilitate trade and to reduce or eliminate certain barriers to trade in goods, services, and investments. Ordinarily, whenever a product is traded across international borders, the importing and exporting countries apply certain charges, which are in the nature of tariffs or duties on the products being exchanged. Such an imposition of tariff/duty invariably increases the cost of procuring the products. FTAs seek to reduce or eliminate such tariffs and thereby make available easy access to the domestic markets of partner countries. FTAs are entered into primarily, in relation to goods and services; however, extensive agreements may even provide relaxations in investor regulations and facilitate transfer of Intellectual Property.
Customs Bonded Warehousing
Organizations are increasingly using Customs Bonded Warehousing license to manufacture goods with the objective to reduce compliances and better cashflow management. To understand this concept better, please read the FAQs.
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