CIT v India Advantage Securities Ltd (ITA No 1131 OF 2013 dated 13.04.2015) BOMBAY HIGH COURT Background: The assessee had received dividend income of Rs Rs.1,40,859/- which was exempt from tax. The assessee had however, not made any disallowance of expenses relating to exempt income. The A.O. in the course of assessment proceedings therefore, computed the disallowance u/s.14A as per Rule 8D which come to Rs.48,73,483/- consisting of interest expenditure of Rs.39,00,174/- and other expenses of Rs.9,73,309/-. In the first level appellate proceedings, the assessee contended that the interest expenditure had been claimed by the assessee as deduction u/s.36(1)(iii). It was also submitted that the shares had been shown as stock-in-trade in the books of accounts and, therefore, such stock-in-trade could not be taken into account while computing the disallowance under Rule 8D. The CIT(A) was satisfied by the explanation given and agreed that the disallowance under Rule 8D could be made only with respect to investment and not in stock-in-trade.
Rule 8D
ACIT vs. Dhampur Sugar Mill Pvt. Ltd (ITA No 220 of 2014 dated 05.11.2014) (Allahabad High Court) Background: The assessee is engaged in the business of the manufacture and sale of sugar, chemicals and power, and has a distillery. For the FY 2007-08, the assessee had incurred interest on working capital which was debited to P&L A/c. During the course of assessment proceedings, the AO observed that assessee had invested some of its funds in shares and the dividend income which had been or was receivable on these investments did not form part of the total income. Holding that certain expenses, such as on account of interest, were directly attributable to the exempt income, the AO made disallowance of Rs 67.75 lakhs under section 14A.
Interest incurred exclusively for business purpose cannot be subject to disallowance u/s 14A – Allahabad ...
Bellwether Microfinance Fund Pvt Ltd v ITO (ITA No. 1743/Hyd/2013 dated 27.06.2014) Hyderabad ITAT Background: Assessee is a non-banking financing company engaged in the business of investing in microfinance companies in India. Assessee entered into a fund management agreement with Caspian Advisors Pvt. Ltd. (‘CAPL’) on 27/05/2005 as per which the said company would render consultation services to the assessee in the matter of investment etc. as fund manager. CAPL was holding 18.7% shareholding in the assessee company. The fund manager was to be paid remuneration for the fund based services. During the course of assessment proceedings, the AO noticed that while computing its income, assessee has disallowed expenditure of Rs. 35,65,860/- under section 14A read with Rule 8D. The assessee under clause (i) of Rule 8D(2) i.e. amount of expenditure directly relating to income which does not form part of total income had already disallowed an amount of Rs 25,20,080 towards fund management fees. However, on the basis of the agreement with fund manager, AO worked out the fees paid to the fund manager and arrived at an amount of Rs 2,47,49,044 as fees paid. The AO then reworked the disallowance and added Rs. 1,97,36,624/- to the income of the assessee.
Expenditure incurred in relation to exempt income earned only during that year to be considered ...
D. H. Securities Pvt. Ltd vs. DCIT (ITAT Mumbai) (Third Member) Background: The assessee claimed that as it was engaged in the business of trading in shares, its main object is to earn profit on purchase and sale of shares and not to earn dividend income from such shares. It claimed that the accrual of tax-free dividend on such shares was merely incidental to the holding of shares as stock-in-trade and that no disallowance could be made u/s 14A and Rule 8D. It also claimed that though the assessee had not incurred any direct or indirect expenditure to earn the said dividend, the AO had made the disallowance on a presumptive basis. The Division Bench referred the dispute to a Third Member in view of the difference of opinion between the Benches. Before the Third Member, the assessee relied on CCI Ltd 71 DTR (Kar) 141 , India Advantage Securities, Yatish Trading etc in which the law had been laid down that s. 14A & Rule 8D does not apply to securities held as stock-in-trade. The department reied on Godrej & Boyce Manufaturing Co 328 ITR 81 (Bom) (where it was held that Rule 8D is mandatory) and Daga Capital 117 ITD 169 (Mum) (SB) (where it was held that s. 14A applies to stock-in-trade).
Disallowance u/s 14A applicable even if shares are held as stock-in-trade – Mum ITAT (TM)
M/s TATA AUTOCOMP SYSTEMS LTD v ACIT IT (TP)A No.7596/Mum/2012) Mumbai ITAT Background: During the year under consideration, the assessee received dividend income of Rs. 16,83,27,131 which was claimed to be exempt from tax. A disallowance of Rs. 1,34,95,120 was made u/s 14-A of the Act on account of expenses attributable to the said exempt income. The said disallowance comprises of interest at Rs. 1,28,72,969/- being 35% of the total interest which, according to the assessee, was the ratio between the investment fetching tax free income and total investment. The balance disallowance of Rs. 6,22,151/- was made on account of salary paid to a treasury person who, according to the assessee, was looking after the activity of earning tax free income.
Rule 8D upheld even after assessee had disallowed staff salary as attributable to exempt income ...
DCIT v Gulshan Investment Co Ltd. (I.T.A. No.: 666/ Kol. / 2012 dtd March 11, 2013) (Kolkata ITAT) The assessee is engaged in the business of share trading. During the course of assessment proceedings, the AO noticed that while the assesse has earned dividend income of Rs 18,91,556, the assessee has not made any disallowance under section 14A in respect of “expenses relatable to the above exempt income”. The AO also noticed that the assessee had paid interest of Rs 10,34,315. The assessee contended that disallowance under section 14A of the Income Tax Act, read with rule 8D of the Income Tax Rules, is not applicable in the case of the assessee since the shares were kept as stock in trade. However, the AO did not accept the contentions of the assessee and computed the disallowance under Rule 8D by applying 0.5% of the average stock-in-trade.