The Government of India has waived off taxes on Air India’s transfer of assets to SPV Air India Assets Holding Ltd. This initiative will allow sturdy strategic disinvestment of the company, stated the report published by the Press Trust of India. The primary aim of the government is to complete the sales target in this fiscal year, which was pending for a long time. The disinvestment has been ascertained to be approximately 1.75 lakh crore.
In 2019, the government has set up an exclusive vehicle Air India Assets Holding Ltd (AIAHL) to transfer all the debt and non-core assets which belonged to Air India. In a series of guidelines, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has averred that no TDS shall be deducted under section 194Q in case of transfer of goods by Air India Ltd to AIAHL.
Moreover, no TDS shall be deducted pertaining to section 194-IA of the Indian I-T Act on payments or transactions made with Air India for shifting immovable property to AIAHL.
Additionally, the CBDT averred that Air India would not be considered as a ‘seller’ for the purposes of deduction of TCS with regard to the transfer of goods by it to AIAHL. Subsequently, the target sales have stepped into an important stage with the approaching end date of September 15, wherein the final financial bids will be initiated by the buyers.