When you’ve earned yourself a fortune, you can be sure that the taxman isn’t too far behind.
Sachin Bansal has reportedly paid a whopping Rs. 699 crore as advance tax for the first quarter of 2018-19. This includes tax for his capital tax gains from the sale of his Flipkart stake to Walmart. Bansal, who’d held a near 5% take in Flipkart until early this year, netted himself an approximate $1 billion (Rs. 7,000 crore) from the transaction.
Both Flipkart founders had been earlier sent notices by the tax department to disclose capital gains made by sale of their shares in Flipkart. Similar notices were served to Walmart to ensure it pays withholding tax on capital gains made by foreign stakeholders of Flipkart. Last year, Walmart had paid Rs. 7,440 crore in tax, or nearly $1 billion, after it had acquired Flipkart at a valuation of $21 billion. While Sachin Bansal has deposited his advance tax, ET reported that cofounder Binny Bansal is yet to disclose the capital gains made on his own stake sale in Flipkart.
But a Rs. 699 crore tax bill is nothing to be sniffed at. If the average angel round for startups in India is around Rs. 1 crore, Sachin Bansal’s tax bill could’ve funded 699 new startups in the country. Rs. 699 crore is also nearly $100 million, which could’ve funded nearly 20 $5 million Series A rounds for new startups.
The taxman, though, must have his due, and it isn’t as though Sachin Bansal will have nothing left over. Bansal has already worked towards ploughing his fortune back into Indian startups — he’s founded a company called BAC Acquisitions which will invest in and acquire Indian startups. There have also been rumours that he could invest as much as $100 million — the exact same amount that he’s paying in tax — into cab hailing company Ola.
And even on a personal level, Bansal doesn’t seem to be too worried about his tax bill — since the Flipkart acquisition, he’s said he’s been going for walks in the park, and playing computer games with his son. And he’s learning that no matter if you’re India’s most successful entrepreneur, have revolutionized India’s e-commerce space, and a become self-made billionaire, there’s two things you can’t avoid — death and taxes.