As you are aware, Indian tax law creates an obligation on foreign companies to file a corporate tax return in India if they have Indian source income. This is still the position, even if the foreign company (i.e. an Irish tax resident lessor) qualifies for treaty benefits and as a result does not have any Indian taxable income. What this means for an Irish resident lessor who leases to an Indian airline is that they should now file a nil Indian tax return on an annual basis.

We wish to inform you that the Indian Department of Revenue published a Notification on 29 July 2020, which extended the due date for filing belated/revised returns for financial year 2018/19 from 31 July 2020 to 30 September 2020. The notification issued in this regard is attached for your reference. With the said extension, enough time should be available to complete the process of registration and file the tax return with the Indian tax authorities for financial year 2018/19. Note, the Indian financial year runs from 1 April to 31 March.

If you would like to discuss the above in further detail, please contact your regular Deloitte contact.