Bonus Stripping

Sometimes companies issue fresh units to the existing shareholders without any consideration in exchange for the same. This practice is called as Bonus Issue.

What is Bonus issue?

Bonus issue is done by way of profit appropriation (allocation). A company will distribute profits by way of issuing additional units instead of distributing the company’s profits by way of dividend. As such, a bonus issue does not have any tax implications on either the company issuing it or on the recipient of bonus units. However, there are investors who smartly utilize a bonus issue as a tax planning tool. Let us see how this works.

The concept of Bonus Stripping

Investors mainly indulge in bonus stripping as a mechanism to evade income taxes. Dividend stripping is another means to achieve the same. However, bonus stripping is a situation when purchase or sale of units of a mutual fund is transacted in a manner, which would result in short term capital loss that can be adjusted against any other capital gains.

In bonus stripping, the investors acquire units before the mutual fund company makes any bonus issue. Once they issue the bonus units, the investors sell the original units, which they had held earlier. This can lead to short term capital loss. Later, after one year, they dispose of the bonus units. Hence, investors enjoy two-fold benefits.

One benefit is the short term capital loss for the sale of original units, which is available for set off against any capital gains. The other is the benefit of a concessional rate of tax of 10% of the long term gains made on the same of the bonus units.

Illustration

Let us understand the concept of Bonus stripping by way of an example

• Mr.A identified that a mutual fund X is going to issue bonus units in the ratio of 1:1.
• Before the record date, he acquires 500 units of the mutual fund. The price of the units on the said date was Rs.1000.Hence, he acquired the units for Rs.5,00,000.
• On the day of bonus issue, he will receive, 1 bonus unit for every unit held. Hence, Mr A would receive 500 bonus units.
• Post the bonus issue, the market value of the units declined. Each share is worth Rs 500. He sells the 500 units he purchased for Rs. 500. Thus he makes a loss of Rs.2,50,000.
• Later, after a year, he sells the bonus units. Since the cost of acquisition of bonus units is Nil, the entire proceeds received from the sale of bonus units would be his long term capital gains.

In this case, Mr A can first set off the short term losses made from original units held, against the long term capital gains made from the sale of bonus units. Subsequently, if the capital gains remaining after set off is greater than Rs 1 lakh, he would be taxed on it at the rate of 10% only.

Income tax implications on Bonus Stripping

As a check on the activity of bonus stripping, provisions under Section 94(8) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 were introduced into the statute books. According to this section, if a person:

• acquires units within 3 months prior to the record date
• on which bonus units are subsequently announced,
• and the original units are sold within 9 months from the record date

the taxpayer will not be allowed to book the loss on such sale transaction. Moreover, such losses would be considered as the Purchase Price of the bonus units acquired.

It is important to note, the above-mentioned provision (Section 94(8)) is applicable only in case of mutual fund units. It is not applicable with respect to shares of a company.

To conclude, investors purchasing units with a very narrow idea of saving taxes and indulging in bonus stripping would get caught under the provisions of Section 94(8) of the Income-tax Act, 1961. Accordingly, investment made with a long term objective in mind would definitely be a safer bet.

Budget 2022 Amendment Impact on Bonus Stripping - Amendment to Section 94(8) of the Income Tax Act

To counteract instances of tax evasion related to Bonus Stripping, the Finance Minister introduced a crucial amendment to Section 94(8) during the Budget 2022 session.

Originally designed to monitor bonus stripping transactions concerning mutual fund units, the pre-existing Section 94(8) of the Income Tax Act underwent a significant modification effective from April 1, 2023. The amendment broadened the scope by substituting the term 'units' with 'securities and units,' extending the applicability of this section to both mutual fund units and equity shares.

Under the revised Section 94(8), if an investor:

Purchases mutual fund units within 3 months before the record date of a bonus issue.
Sells all or any of the original shares within 9 months after the record date of the bonus issue.

Any loss incurred during such a transaction will be disregarded for capital gains calculations. Consequently, the investor cannot claim a loss on the sale, and the incurred loss will be treated as the purchase price for the bonus shares acquired.

Illustratively, consider the scenario where an investor, Mr. A, experiences a Short-Term Capital Loss (STCL) of INR 25,000 in the specified transaction. According to the amended Section 94(8), this loss will not be factored into tax calculations. Mr. A cannot offset this loss and, instead, the entire INR 25,000 will be considered as the cost of acquisition for the bonus shares that were subsequently sold. This amendment aims to curb potential misuse of bonus stripping strategies and enhance the integrity of the tax system.  

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