Newsletter
INCOME RECEIVED FROM ISSUES OF WARRANTS ARE TAXABLE UNDER THE INCOME TAX LAW
The Ministry of Finance announced in January of this year that when a company issues warrants for purchase or sale of stocks, the purchase price obtained by the company at issuance should be considered option money and subject to corporate income tax. It should not be considered tax-exempt income from securities transactions. After the issuance of the warrants, however, profit and loss arising from the exercise of the warrant rights by investors should be considered income from securities transactions and thus exempted from income tax.
In addition, under a separate set of rules, the issuance of warrants for purchase or sale of stocks does not constitute a securities transaction, and thus should be exempted from the securities transaction tax; neither does it constitute a business activity, and thus should also be exempted from business tax.