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.
Mumbai is where the finance function of cross-border equity actually sits. The BKC and Lower Parel financial hubs house the India CFO offices and group controllers of US and European MNCs; the Andheri-Powai SaaS belt and the Goregaon-Vikhroli startup corridor add a deep base of product subsidiaries whose employees hold foreign-parent RSUs and ESPP. With SEBI's headquarters in BKC and most parent groups' India treasury teams in the city, the questions here skew toward the heavy stuff - GST on the parent-to-subsidiary equity recharge, transfer pricing cross-charge documentation, and whether the recharge is cost-to-cost or carries a markup. The Indian subsidiary is statutory TDS deductor under Section 192 on shares it never issued; employees claim foreign tax credit through Form 67 and disclose in Schedule FA; all across two tax codes, two currencies and two reporting frameworks.
Patron Accounting LLP runs this engagement end-to-end for the Mumbai subsidiary (Section 192 TDS, Schedule III, transfer pricing recharge memo, Ind AS 102 group share-based payment) and the senior BKC, Powai and Vikhroli employees (ITR-2/ITR-3, Schedule FA, Schedule FSI, Schedule TR, Form 67). Subsidiaries here file with RoC Mumbai under the Maharashtra jurisdiction. One firm, one named CA partner accountability, covering both sides of the cross-border equity stack since 2009.