The Finance Minister through the Union Budget 2012-13 has introduced several amendments in the income-tax law having far reaching implications on the tax payers. A key tax proposal introduced is the General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR) which intends to address the issue of aggressive tax planning and codify the doctrine of “substance over form”. GAAR is proposed to be implemented with effect from AY 2013-14. Click here to download the article
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Piyush Mehta v ACIT (ITAT Mumbai) For AY 2005-06, the AO made a disallowance of expenditure incurred by the assessee on the ground that the assessee had made the TDS payments u/s 194C after the end of the year. Before the Tribunal, the assessee claimed that as the TDS had been paid before the due date of filing the ROI, no disallowance could be made as per s. 40(a)(ia) amended by the FA 2010 w.e.f. 1.4.2010. The assessee relied on Virgin Creations and claimed that it had to be followed in preference to the contrary ruling of the Special Bench in Bharati Shipyard Ltd 132 ITD 53 (Mum). HELD by the Tribunal:
S. 40(a)(ia): Amendment by FA 2010 w.e.f 1.4.2010 is retrospective
CIT vs. M/s Sangameshwara Associates (Karnataka High Court) The assessee filed a ROI offering Rs. 4.68 lakhs which was assessed. Subsequently, the AO issued a s. 148 notice claiming that cash credits of Rs. 4.50 lakhs had to be assessed. The assessed filed a ROI pursuant to the s. 148 notice in which it offered the said cash credits as income and the assessment was finalized on that basis. In the s. 271(1)(c) penalty proceedings, the assessee claimed that it was not liable for penalty on the ground that (i) the income offered in the ROI was accepted without any addition and so there was no concealment as per the ROI; (ii) the cash credits were offered as income to buy peace & (iii) that the AO had not recorded satisfaction that the assessee had concealed the income. The CIT (A) & Tribunal accepted the assessee’s claim. On appeal by the department to the High Court, HELD reversing the lower authorities:
Despite offer of income in s. 148 ROI, s. 271(1)(c) penalty leviable
Rajamahendri Shipping & Oil Field Services Ltd vs. ACIT (ITAT Vizag) For AY 2005-06, the AO disallowed Rs. 47.26 lakhs u/s 40(a)(ia) on the ground that the TDS had not been paid in time. The assessee claimed that the amendment to s. 40(a)(ia) by the Finance Act 2010 w.e.f. 1.4.2010 to provide that no disallowance could be made if the TDS was paid on or before the due date specified in s. 139(1) was retrospective in nature as held in CIT vs. Virgin Creations and that the contrary ruling of the Special Bench in Bharti Shipyard Ltd vs. DCIT 132 ITD 53 (Mum) could not be followed. HELD by the Tribunal:
S. 40(a)(ia): Non-jurisdictional High Court prevails over Special Bench
M/s. Merilyn Shipping & Transports vs. ACIT (ITAT Visakhapatnam Special Bench) The assessee incurred brokerage expenses of Rs.38.75 lakhs and commission of Rs.2.43 lakhs without deducting TDS. Of this only Rs. 1.78 lakhs was payable and the rest was paid. The AO disallowed the entire expenditure u/s 40(a)(ia). Before the CIT (A), it was argued that disallowance u/s 40(a)(ia) could be made only of the amount “payable” and not of that which had already been “paid” though it was rejected. On appeal to the Tribunal, the matter was referred to the Special Bench. HELD by the Special Bench:
S. 40(a)(ia) TDS Disallowance applies only to amounts “payable” as at 31st March and not ...
Maral Overseas Ltd. v ACIT [2012] 20 taxmann.com 346 (Indore – Trib.)(SB) Deduction under section 10B not deniable merely because assessee was only granted certificate for enhanced capacity by way of amendment of original certificate and not a fresh sanction letter in form of certificate.
Section 10B only requires approval by competent authorityand does not require that separate approval for ...
ITO v Ajay Shantilal Lalwani (2012) 145 TTJ511 (Pune) Facts of the case The assessee had purchased shares of a company in physical form and transferred to the demat account on a later date as the assessee was not having demat account at the time of purchasing the shares. When the assessee decided to sell the shares, he sent the shares for de-materialisation. He claimed exemption under section 10(38) for long term capital gains on sale of the said shares. During the assessment proceedings, copies of share certificates held by the assessee in physical form were also provided to the A.O, which contained complete relevant details viz address of Registered Office of the Company, signatures of the authorized signatory along with 2 directors’ signature, value of shares with paid up amount of shares purchased in each Company, date of issue of Certificate, Certificate No., Registered Folio, number of shares with their distinctive numbers, date of transfer of shares in the name of assessee and also copies of contract notes along with bills issued by share broker S.B. Buthra & Company. The A.O denied claimed exemption u/s. 10(38) of the Act in respect of Long Term Capital Gain mainly on the basis that there was a substantial delay in transferring the shares into D-MAT A/c.
Delayed transfer of shares from physical to Demat form – not a ground for denial ...
SEPCO III Electric Power Construction Corporation, In re (2012) 342 ITR 313 (AAR) The applicant was a Chinese company engaged in the business of supplying equipment for electric power projects. An Indian company awarded contract to the applicant for offshore supply. The scope of the work required the applicant to carry out design, engineering, procuring and transportation of the equipment for a thermal power plant to the port of loading. The applicant claimed that:
Offshore supply of equipment under the offshore supply contract not taxable u/s 9
Farida Holdings (P.) Ltd. v Deputy Commissioner of Income-tax [2012] 21 taxmann.com 462 (Chennai – Trib.) The assessee is a private limited company, mainly functioning in the role of a holding company over a number of hundred-percent subsidiary companies. The assessee company is exercising administrative control over the subsidiaries in its status as holding company. In that status the assessee company is also managing the financial affairs of its subsidiaries. The assessee company is monitoring the inflows and outflows of the subsidiary companies in its attempt to utilize the available funds to the maximum advantage of the group companies. The Assessing Officer found that the assessee company had received loan amounts from different subsidiaries and those borrowed funds were in turn advanced to other subsidiaries. According to the assessing authority, the loans obtained by the assessee from its subsidiaries were in the nature of deemed dividends as per section 2(22)(e) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 and, therefore, liable to be taxed.