Chartered Accountant · ICAI M.No. 153926 · FRN 136869W
The 10-year window
The clock runs from your date of incorporation, and DPIIT startup status lasts up to 10 years. This limit was raised from the original 7 years. Confirm the current limit, which can change by notification.
Why it matters for the tax holiday
The window is important because the 80-IAC tax holiday — three consecutive years of 100% profit deduction — must be claimed within these first 10 years. Choose your three years for when you are most profitable, before the window closes.
A worked example
A company incorporated in 2024 is treated as a DPIIT startup until 2034. Suppose it makes losses in its first three years and turns profitable in 2028: it can choose 2028–2030 for the 80-IAC tax holiday, deducting 100% of those profits, all comfortably inside the ten-year window. The age limit interacts with two other tests — it must also stay under the ₹100 crore turnover limit and keep meeting the innovation criterion throughout. A common mistake is to assume the status runs from recognition rather than incorporation; it does not, so a company recognised three years after it was formed has effectively seven years of runway left, not ten, and recognition obtained late cannot extend the original clock. The practical lesson is to get recognised early and time the 80-IAC block for your most profitable years before the window closes. Our startup service can map the timeline against your projections.