Budget wishlist: Alternative funds seek angel tax breather, GST rate cut

Other demands include pass-through for losses, tax cut on management fee

Private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) entities want alternative investment funds (AIFs), used to invest in starts-up, to be exempted from Section 56(2)(vii-b) of the Income-Tax Act — popularly known as “angel tax” — in the Union Budget.

At present, only VCUs (venture capital undertakings), a sub-category of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi)-registered Category-I AIF, are exempted.

Other items on the wish list of PE and VC entities are pass-through for I-T to address end-of-life losses, tax parity of unlisted shares with listed ones, and reduction in the goods and services tax (GST) from 18 per