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We have already discussed tax audits and when they are required for trading income. First, let's determine how much your trading business has been profitable to determine whether an audit is necessary.
It is important to reiterate that turnover must be calculated only when trading P&L is considered a business income. (An audit will not be required if capital gains income is all that you have. Only the turnover is used to determine whether a tax audit should be performed. Your turnover does not affect your tax liability.
If -
Note The turnover limit has been increased to 5 crores following the Finance Bill 2020's introduction. An audit is not required if the turnover exceeds the 5 crores mark.
After reading about turnover, I'm sure that the first thing you thought of was contract turnover.
It is and not contract turnover that the IT department is interested; they are interested business turnover.
Find out how to calculate business turnover.
It is difficult to calculate turnover using the method described above. The IT department has not provided any guidance. The guidance note on tax audit in Section 44AB of the ICAI (Institute of chartered accountants of India), is a great resource. This guidance note , Section 5.12 on, contains a guideline for how to calculate turnover. It states:
All delivery-based transactions in which you purchase stocks, hold them for more than one day, and then sell them are to be counted as turnover. If 100 Reliance shares were purchased at Rs 800 and then sold at Rs 820 each, the total value of the sales can be considered turnover (820 x 100).
If you are declaring equity delivery-based trades as income, the above calculation of turnover on delivery transactions only applies. These transactions can be used for capital gains and investments. You don't have to calculate the turnover. A turnover audit is unnecessary if there are capital gains.
A turnover is the total or absolute sum of all positive and negative trades. This means that if you purchase 100 shares of Reliance at 800 AM and then sell them at 820 in the afternoon, you will make a profit of Rs 2000.
The article states that for all transactions other than speculative, turnover should be determined as follows:
If you buy 25 units of Nifty futures or 1 lot at 8000, and then sell at 7900 at Rs.2500 (25x100), the turnover is the negative difference or loss.
Options: If you buy 100 or four lots of Nifty-8200 calls at Rs.20, and then sell them at Rs.30, it is called buying options. First, the favourable profit or difference of Rs 1000 (10x100) is the turnover. The turnover also includes the premium earned on sale, which is Rs 30x100 = Rs 3000. This means that the total turnover for this option trade is 1000 +3000 = Rs 40000.
These calculations (points 1 through 3) are quite straight-forward. The next thing is to decide if you want trade- or scrip-wise to calculate your turnover.
Scrip wise is something ,when the turnover is calculated by collating all trades on the contract for the FY, average buy/sell value is calculated and then turnover is determined using the above mentioned 3 rules with total profit or loss or difference on average value.
Trade-wise This is how you calculate the turnover. It involves adding up the absolute profit and loss from every trade that was made during the year, and following the rules.
Following are the examples to understand better-
Using Scripwise
Average Nifty Jan Fut Buy: 200 Nifty Buy at 8150
Average Nifty Jan Fut Sell: 200 Nifty Buy at 8075
Total profit/loss = Rs 200 x 25 = Profit of Rs 5500 = Turnover for Nifty Jan Futures
Trade wise
100 Nifty: Buy at 8000, sell at 8100, profit = Rs 10,000
100 Nifty: Buy at 8100, sell at 8050, loss = Rs 5000
Nifty Jan futures turnover = Rs 10,000 + Rs 5500 (absolute loss sum) = Rs 15000
Using Scrip wise:
Average Nifty Dec 8000 puts Buy: 200 puts at 75
Average Nifty Dec 8000 put sell: 200 puts at $40
Total profit/loss = 200x Rs 35 = Rs 7000
Total selling value of options = 200x Rs 40 = Rs 8000
Total Turnover Dec 8000 Puts = Rs 7000 + R 8000 = Rs 15000
Trade wise:
Trade 1
100 Nifty Dec Puts bought at 100, and sold at 50. Loss = Rs 5500
Option selling value = 100 x Rs 50 = Rs 5500
Turnover = Rs 10000
Trade 2
100 Nifty Dec Puts purchased at 50, and sell at 30. Loss = Rs 2000
Option selling value = 100 x Rs 30, Rs 3000
Turnover = Rs. 5000
Total turnover = turnover (trade 1+trade2) = Rs 150000
Should I trade or scrip wise?
Trade-wise turnover calculation is the most accurate way to determine turnover. However, trade-wise turnover is the most difficult part of calculating. No broker (other than Upstox) currently provides trade wise turnover reports. Every broker provides a P&L that shows the average buy/sell price. This can be used for calculating scrip-wise turnover. If you don't trade at Upstox but are interested in calculating turnover trades you will need to download all trades made during the year onto an excel sheet. Then, manually calculate turnover.
Here are the trade and scripwise turnover reports for Console .
Once you have determined the turnover, you can determine if an audit is required. If so, visit a CA to verify your balance sheet, P&L statements, and see if they are mandatory.
If your profit is lower than 6%, an audit may be required. If your turnover is less than 6%, you will need to have an audit. By profit, I mean only your net profits, not including salary and capital gains. If you trade as a business, and you incur losses, you will need to have your books audited.
An important point to keep in mind is that audits are not necessary if you have zero tax liability for the year. If your total income (Salary plus Business income + capital gains) is less that Rs 2.5ks (minimum tax bracket), then audit is not necessary. If your losses are significant, it is recommended to file the return with an auditor.
Retail traders are experiencing major inconveniences due to section 44AD being applied for trading as a business revenue. The difference between trading on the market and an ordinary business is how much turnover you can achieve. In trading, there is no guarantee of a margin. This is in contrast to an ordinary business that has a fixed margin for every transaction. This section is unnecessary and makes it difficult for small retail traders to have their books reviewed.
If you want to show trading income as a business, you must file ITR3. This would mean that you have to maintain your business just like any other.
These will need to audited according to your turnover. If your turnover exceeds 5 Crore, or if your profits are less that 6% of total turnover, then these should be audited. For individuals who trade as a business income, creating a balance sheet, P&L and maintaining books of accounts is easy.
Balance Sheet
The personal balance sheet gives you a snapshot of your wealth over a period of time. It shows you your assets (what are you own), your liabilities and your net worth (assets minus liability).
It is easy to create a personal balance sheet by combining all the information.
Once you have all the information, begin to create your balance sheet. List all your assets (financial as well as tangible) and their respective values. Examples of assets include:
The sum of all these values is your assets.
Next, consider your liabilities. This should include everything you owe. These are some of the most common liability categories.
Liabilities are the sum of all your money owed.
The difference between your assets and liabilities is considered to be your net worth
This is your balance sheet. It is better to have one updated every few months than to create one at the end each financial year.
Profit & Loss statement
Your revenue streams and expenses will be summarized in profit and loss for the financial year.
You will need to list all revenue and expenses in order to create your P&L.
Revenue
Keep in mind that your salary income, if earned elsewhere, cannot be added to your revenue stream on your P&L.
Expenses
Profit is the sum of revenue and expenses.
The Balance Sheet allows you to see your net worth between two dates. The P&L shows you why your networth changed. Financial discipline is key to creating long-term personal wealth. You will be able to keep track of your assets and liabilities by keeping a personal balance sheet and a P&L.
Book of accounts/Book-keeping
Maintaining a Book of Accounts and Book-keeping can seem very difficult. I've seen traders react to this by getting scared and trying to postpone the decision to find out more. It is very simple for someone trading solely as a source of income or salary. You only need to keep two books.
Bank Book: Make an Excel download of all bank statements and add a note to each entry to identify the transaction's nature. In case of expenses, it is a good idea to have a copy of all bills.
Trading book - This should automatically be maintained by the broker that you trade with. If required, the broker should be able provide a P&L report that includes all expenses and ledger statements. Contrary to popular belief, contract notes are not required unless they are subject to scrutiny by IT. Even then, if you only ask for them.
If you have traded with more than 10 Indian online brokers, your ledger and P&L statements will include all expenses. This will reveal any hidden fees.
Stock market box takes great pride in our transparency as a business. All charges other than brokerage are captured in the Other Credits/Debits section of the tax P&L. You will also receive a summary of the value of all open options positions between April 1 and March 31 . This information is very useful when you want to add your ledger to your P&L statement.
The taxation module is almost complete. The final chapter will explain which ITR forms are best and provide an Excel download of an example ITR 4 form.