Cross-Border Equity Tax - Overview
📌 TL;DR - Foreign Parent ESOP and RSU Services at a Glance
When a US, UK, Singapore or Israeli parent company grants RSUs, ESOPs, ESPP or SARs to its Indian subsidiary employees, three Indian tax events trigger - no tax at grant, perquisite tax at vesting under Section 17(2)(vi) with TDS by the Indian subsidiary under Section 192(1), and capital gains tax at sale under Section 112 (LTCG 12.5 percent post-Finance Act 2024 if held over 24 months). Plus mandatory Schedule FA disclosure for Resident and Ordinarily Resident employees and Form 67 plus Schedule TR for Foreign Tax Credit under DTAA. FEMA OI Rules 2022 and LRS limits apply. The Indian subsidiary must also document its parent-subsidiary equity cost recharge for transfer pricing.
Gurugram is India's densest single concentration of global capability centres, and the foreign-parent RSU is practically a default pay component here. DLF Cyber City and Udyog Vihar anchor the SaaS-ITES captives, the Golf Course Road cluster holds the newer product and fintech subsidiaries, and the Sohna Road tech corridor keeps filling with mid-size MNC R&D arms. The Haryana GCC Policy 2025 is actively pulling more parent groups to set up captives in the city. For these subsidiaries the volume problem is real - hundreds of engineers vesting US-listed RSUs every quarter, each needing Section 192 TDS at the Rule 3(8)(ii) FMV and Schedule FA disclosure. The Indian subsidiary is statutory TDS deductor on shares it never issued; employees claim foreign tax credit through Form 67; all across two tax codes, two currencies and two reporting frameworks.
Patron Accounting LLP runs this engagement end-to-end for the Gurugram subsidiary (Section 192 TDS, Schedule III, transfer pricing recharge memo, Ind AS 102 group share-based payment) and the senior Cyber City and Golf Course Road employees (ITR-2/ITR-3, Schedule FA, Schedule FSI, Schedule TR, Form 67). Being in Haryana, Gurugram subsidiaries file corporate forms with RoC Delhi, which covers Haryana. One firm, one named CA partner accountability, covering both sides of the cross-border equity stack since 2009.