Question
MINICASE The introduction of GST has thrown open a huge opportunity for the tax consultancy business and Jacob Kurian is one of those professionals actively
MINICASE
The introduction of GST has thrown open a huge opportunity for the tax consultancy business and
Jacob Kurian is one of those professionals actively considering entering that field on his own. For
that he will have to resign the current job of working as a product manager in a well-known onlion
marketing company drawing an annual salary of < 15 lakhs with normal annual increment of 8 percent
What is emboldening him to take the plunge is the fact that his wife is firmly e
nly employed as a project
manager in an MNC drawing a high salary (more than him!) and the couple is yet to raise a family
His plan is to start a proprietary firm styled Taxperts. Though he owns an office space in an old
commercial complex, the lease on it would be expiring only in two years. However, as a similar sized
space adjacent to it is currently vacant, he plans to take that on rent to start with and eventually shift
to own place once that becomes vacant. The fixed assets for the project would consist of computers
and accessories costing < 20 lakhs and furniture and fixtures costing < 30 lakhs. A one-time
non-refundable Government subsidy at 20 percent of the cost of fixed assets would be
available at the beginning of the project. Besides, the government would also arrange
a term loan of <40 lakhs from a bank for the project, at an interest rate of 9 percent,
repayable in four equal annual installments after an initial holiday period of 1 year,
On shifting to own office space, while no additional fixed assets would be needed, a one-
time relocation expense of < 2 lakhs would have to be incurred. At the commencement of
business, the firm would have to make some advance payments and keep deposits with various
agencies totaling to < 2 lakhs, which would all be refunded in full at the end of 5 years. An amount of
10 lakhs would have to be held ready at the start of the project in the firm's checking account to meet
employee payments as it would take a couple of months for the revenue stream to set in. Various
stationery and other consumables totaling to < 1 lakh would have to be held on an ongoing basis
which might fetch a net salvage value of only 0.25 lakh after 5 years. An amount of < 1.5 lakhs would be
needed towards the cost of electricity and water, < 3 lakhs towards transportation expenses and
1 lakh towards miscellaneous expenses each year. For the rented premises, an interest free
refundable security deposit of < 2 lakhs would have to be kept with the landlord and an annual
rent of < 5 lakhs would have to be paid to him at the beginning of each year. There would in all
be 10 employees under him and their annual salary would total to < 50 lakhs with an average
annual increment of 8 percent. The revenues during the project life are estimated to be as follows:
in lakhs
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
80
Year 5
100
Year 4
120
110
80
The depreciation rate on computer and accessories would be 60 percent and on furniture
and fixtures 10 percent under the WDV method. The rented office space is fully depreciated.
Jacob has other means of income and his effective marginal tax rate is 33 percent. At the end
of 5 years the computers and accessories and furniture and fittings would together fetch a net
salvage value of < 25 lakhs. What is the IRR of the project? Is it financially worthwhile for Jacob?
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