1997 and since other duty neutralisation schemes are covered under section 28 ii of the incometax act there is no reason why the tax benefits should not extend to depb as wellit was never the governments intention to exclude depb from tax benefits says an official of the commerce ministry which formulated the scheme to serve as a dutyfree import window for exporters this must have been an oversight that depb was not listed under section 28 iiunder the trade policy exporters have the option to get either exemption from duties paid on input used in export production or reimbursement of such duties so that export goods have no incidence of tax and duties those opting for exemption of duties can avail the scheme of advance licence whereas exporters willing to claim refund of duties can have recourse to depbthe issue of negative profit is more complex export profits have been exempt from incometax under section 80hhc but a firm would be taxed if there has been negative profits from exports