Startups want taxes streamlined, less GST pain
As the start-up ecosystem matures, it faces several working capital issues which, in turn, hinder its long term growth.
Chennai: The startup ecosystem expects the Budget to encourage new businesses by taking steps to help them attract investments and streamline taxes and tax filing.
"The government's commitment to support entrepreneurs could be evidenced in the form of credit guarantee schemes, easing of regulatory requirements for start-ups and time savvy technology introduced for tax compliance,' said Arun Singh, Lead Economist, Dun and Bradstreet.
"In the upcoming Budget 2019, we look forward to the government taking more initiatives to enable increased investment into startups. Some path-breaking initiatives such as allowing charitable trusts, National Pension Scheme and Provident Fund to commit a small portion of their corpus to Venture Capital will go a long way towards catalysing increased investment opportunities,' said Sunil Goyal, MD and Fund Manager, YourNest.
As the start-up ecosystem matures, it faces several working capital issues which, in turn, hinder its long term growth. Startups find that current norms for GST and TDS are blocking significant money.
"Mandating banks to give a loan under priority sector lending for startups to deposit GST until receipt of payment can ease the capital concerns of start-ups,' he said.
Further, entrepreneurs hope the government will streamline taxes and tax filing processes.
"We expect the government to streamline taxes and making GST and TDS filing on a quarterly basis for startups, who are currently reeling under the pressure of working capital crunch due to monthly filing,' said Anmol Kukreja, Co-Founder and CEO of Skillbox.
It should also ease FDI and RBI rules and make the regulatory environment easier for start-ups who are raising funds from overseas. Filings and compliances are quite cumbersome and hence online process will make it frictionless.
"With technological disruption being key for startups' growth today, we urge the government to encourage investments in technology hubs that will help strengthen technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning,' said Bhavin Turakhia, CEO of Zeta and Flock.