When you sell your own shares in a secondary, you are selling a capital asset, so the profit is generally taxed as capital gains, not salary. The gain is your sale price minus your cost of acquisition (what you paid, including any strike you exercised at). Whether it is short or long term depends on how long you held the shares before selling, and unlisted company shares have their own holding period threshold that differs from listed shares. If the shares originally came from exercised ESOPs, the value already taxed as a perquisite usually becomes part of your cost, so you are not taxed on it again. Capital gains rates, holding period rules, and indexation keep changing, and a large secondary can also raise advance tax and surcharge questions, so run your specific numbers past a CA before you assume how much you will actually keep.
A curated summary to orient you, not advice. The resources below are the real value.
2 hand-picked resources, 1 India-specific, 1 link-checked. Pick how you want to dig in.
Why we picked it The India reference on short vs long term capital gains, holding periods, and rates for equity, funds, and property, so you know the tax before you sell.
From ClearTax by ClearTax
Open cleartax.in →Why we picked it A calm explainer of what a secondary actually is, who has to approve it, and how the price gets set, before you raise it with your board.
From Carta by Carta
Open carta.com →The same ground, over in Raise money, our Starting Up track.
