TAXMAN

Vol. 168, Part 1, for the week of March 15 – March 21, 2008

statutes

q NOTIFICATIONS

Chartered Accountants Act

-   Section 4 of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 - Entry of names in the Register - Notified fee 

-   Section 5 of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 - Fellows and Associates - Notified fee 

-   Section 6 of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 - Certificate of practice - Notified fee 

-   Section 19 of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 - Register - Notified fee 

-   Section 20 of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 - Removal from the Register - Notified additional fee  

Income-tax Act

-   Section 35(1)(ii) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 - Scientific research expenditure - Approved scientific research associations/institutions  

-   Section 35(2AB)(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 - Scientific research expenditure - Notified article or thing 

-   Section 115AC of the Income-tax Act, 1961 - Global Depository Receipts - Tax on income from bonds or Global Depository Receipts purchased in foreign currency or capital gains arising from their transfer - Notified Scheme 

q RULES/Amendment RULES

IT (Appellate Tribunal) (Amendment) Rules, 2006

-   Income-tax (Appellate Tribunal) (Amendment) Rules, 2006 - Substitution of rule 34; and insertion of rule 32A 

Tax Reports

Table of cases

Ajay Kumar Shah Jagati v. CIT (SC) 

Budhewal Co-Op. Sugar Mills Ltd. v. CIT (Punj. & Har.) 

CIT v. Enron Oil & Gas India Ltd. (Uttarakhand) 

CIT v. Mahavir Alluminium Ltd. (Delhi) 

CIT v. Motorola India Ltd. (Punj. & Har.) 

CIT v. Paramjit Kaur (Smt.) (Punj. & Har.) 

Mansinh Hansraj Khatau v. Union of India (Bom.) 

Munjal Sales Corpn. v. CIT (SC) 

subject index

Business expenditure

Allowability of

-   Assessment year 1993-94 - Assessee-co-operative society claimed deduction of additional sugarcane price paid to sugarcane growers as a business expenditure - Claim was disallowed by lower authorities - On appeal, Tribunal found that assessee unilaterally enhanced sugarcane price and created an additional liability in that respect by making a provision towards additional sugarcane price, without, however, making any actual payment to sugarcane growers; that such additional liability was shown only in those assessment years when assessee had earned huge profits; and that said liability was directly taken to share capital account with a view to enhance its capital base, but without payment of taxes in respect of related amount - On basis of said findings, Tribunal upheld disallowance, holding that action of assessee was not bona fide and was employed to avoid payment of dues to exchequer - Whether there was any infirmity in order of Tribunal - Held, no - Budhewal Co-Op. Sugar Mills Ltd. v. CIT (Punj. & Har.) 

Capital gains

Transfer

-   Assessment year 1989-90 - Assessee entered into an agreement to sell certain land to ‘K’ for Rs. 25 lakh - Subsequently, said land was divided into plots and 24 sub-divided plots were transferred by assessee to nominees of ‘K’ for consideration of Rs. 15.2 lakh in relevant assessment year - Assessing Officer worked out capital gain on entire consideration of Rs. 25 lakh, rejecting assessee’s contention that since he had not given possession of entire area of land and continued to be in possession of land not transferred, section 2(47) was not applicable - Order of Assessing Officer was upheld by Commissioner (Appeals), but Tribunal allowed assessee’s appeal - Whether since no revenue or municipal records had been produced which could have indicated as to whether entire land or a part thereof stood conveyed and delivered to ‘K’ at relevant time and on facts, it was not clear as to how many plots stood conveyed and how many plots remained with assessee, Tribunal could not have allowed appeal in favour of assessee - Held, yes - Whether, therefore, matter was to be remitted to Tribunal for fresh consideration in accordance with law after considering relevant documents - Held, yes - Ajay Kumar Shah Jagati v. CIT (SC) 

Circulars and Notifications

-   Notification No. F. No. 63-Ad. (AT)/97, dated 16-9-1997 

-   CBDT Circular No. 772, dated 27-12-1998 

High Court, appeals to

-   Assessment year 1996-1997 - Assessee filed its return of income and assessment order was passed by Assessing Officer at Bangalore - Commissioner, in exercise of jurisdiction under section 263, set aside order of Assessing Officer holding that same was erroneous and prejudicial to interest of revenue - However, on appeal, Tribunal (Bangalore) vacated order of Commissioner - Revenue filed appeal against that order in Punjab and Haryana High Court - Assessee raised a preliminary objection concerning maintainability of appeal and territorial jurisdiction of Court to entertain same - Revenue contended that jurisdiction of Court is required to be determined on basis of location of office of Assessing Officer, which in instant case would be at Gurgaon after transfer of case under section 127 on assessee’s request - Whether jurisdiction of Court is to be determined on basis of place of passing of assessment order by Assessing Officer, and not on basis of Assessing Officer who exercises jurisdiction over assessee after transfer of case and, therefore, assessee’s preliminary objection that Punjab and Haryana High Court had no territorial jurisdiction over an order passed by Assessing Officer at Bangalore was to be sustained - Held, yes - CIT v. Motorola India Ltd. (Punj. & Har.) 

Income escaping assessment

Non-disclosure of primary facts

-   Assessment year 1989-90 - Whether Assessing Officer can assume jurisdiction for reassessment proceedings, provided he has reasons to believe, but same cannot be taken recourse to on basis of reasons to suspect - Held, yes - Assessing Officer had initiated reassessment proceedings on basis of information received from department’s survey wing that a demand draft, got prepared by assessee, was not accounted for in her books of account - Whether since Assessing Officer had not examined and corroborated information so received before recording his own satisfaction of escaped income and initiating reassessment proceedings, it could be said that Assessing Officer had acted only on basis of suspicion and, therefore, issuance of notice under section 148 for reassessment proceedings was invalid - Held, yes - CIT v. Smt. Paramjit Kaur (Punj. & Har.) 

Interest on borrowed capital

-   Assessment years 1993-94 to 1997-98 - Whether section 40 is not a stand alone section; it is corollary to sections 30 to 38 and its object is to put limitation on amount of deduction which assessee is entitled to under sections 30 to 38 - Held, yes - Whether after enactment of Finance Act, 1992, every assessee including a firm has to establish, in first instance, its right to claim deduction under one of sections between sections 30 to 38 and in case of firm, if it claims special deduction, it has also to prove that it is not disentitled to claim deduction by reason of applicability of section 40(b) - Held, yes - Whether, therefore, in case of a firm to claim deduction in respect of interest paid on capital borrowed from third parties (apparently partners), firm is required to establish, in first instance, that it is entitled to claim deduction under section 36(1)(iii), and secondly that it is not disentitled to claim such deduction on account of applicability of section 40(b)(iv) - Held, yes - Munjal Sales Corpn. v. CIT (SC) 

-   Assessment years 1993-94 to 1997-98 - Assessee’s claim for deduction under section 36(1)(iii) was disallowed on ground that it had given interest-free advances to its sister concerns from interest-bearing loans taken from third parties - On appeal, Tribunal deleted disallowance for assessment years 1992-93 and 1993-94, holding that assessee had given such advance from its own funds, but upheld disallowances for assessment years 1994-95 to 1996-97 - Whether once it was found that interest-free loans granted in August/September 1991 continued up to assessment year 1997-98; that said loans were advanced for business purpose; and that interest paid to third parties (partners) did not exceed 18/12 per cent per annum, assessee was entitled to deduction under section 36(1)(iii), read with section 40(b)(iv) - Held, yes - Munjal Sales Corpn. v. CIT (SC) 

Income-tax Act, 1961

-   Section 2(47) 

-   Section 36(1)(iii) 

-   Section 37(1) 

-   Section 42 

-   Section 119 

-   Section 145A 

-   Section 147 

-   Section 260A 

Method of accounting

Valuation of stock in certain cases

-   Assessment year 1999-2000 - For relevant previous year ending on 31-3-1999, assessee made an adjustment on account of modvat credit in opening stock as on 1-4-1998 - Assessing Officer held that in view of section 145A, assessee could not make a change in valuation of opening stock, although a change in closing stock may be made - Whether to give effect to section 145A, if there is a change in closing stock as on 31-3-1999, corresponding adjustment must be made in opening stock as on 1-4-1998, subject, however, to a condition that such adjustment should not result in double deduction for same expenditure - Held, yes - Whether since no adjustment was made by assessee in profit and loss account for year ending 31-3-1998, question of double deduction did not arise and, therefore, adjustment made by assessee was to be allowed - Held, yes - CIT v. Mahavir Alluminium Ltd. (Delhi) 

Mineral oil, business for prospecting/exploration of, etc., deduction in case of

-   Assessment years 1998-99 to 2000-2001 - Assessee, a non-resident company, was engaged in production of crude oil along with its joint venture partners under Production Sharing Contract (PSC) entered into with Central Government - Assessee debited foreign exchange loss to its profit and loss account on basis of accounting procedure set out in PSC stipulating that expenditure incurred in foreign exchange by co-venturer during any particular month had to be converted into Indian rupee at rate which had to be determined at end of calendar month - Whether depreciation claimed by assessee on account of foreign exchange loss was admissible to it under section 42 - Held, yes - CIT v. Enron Oil & Gas India Ltd. (Uttarakhand) 

Tax informers

Reward to

-   Chairman of CBDT made an announcement in a press conference to effect that rate of reward to those furnishing information about concealed income has been stepped up from 2.5 per cent to a minimum of 7.5 per cent of extra tax which would be generated as a result of such information and in suitable cases, reward might go up to 10 per cent - Plaintiff filed various petitions providing information regarding concealed income/gains of different persons and claimed that he was entitled to reward of 10 per cent of amount of tax plus penal interest realised by Government - Department, though did not deny entitlement of a person to reward if case was made out, but submitted that no additional revenue was generated on basis of alleged information supplied by plaintiff - Whether plaintiff had no legal right to claim such reward, unless department actually generated additional income or revenue - Held, yes - Whether once plaintiff came with a positive case and claimed reward, burden lay upon him to prove that department had generated additional revenue and, in absence of any evidence to prove same, plaintiff was not entitled to get any reward - Held, yes - Mansinh Hansraj Khatau v. Union of India (Bom.) 

magazine

features

q FINANCE BILL, 2008

srinivasan anand g, Chartered Accountant

-   Your Guide to Finance Bill, 2008 

v.k. subramani, Chartered Accountant

-   Budget 2008 - Reverse mortgage and tax implication 

t.n. pandey, Ex-Chairman, cbdt

-   New set of tax incentives in Finance Bill, 2008 despite experts’ view for their elimination 

b.s. madhusudhan, Joint-General Manager

-   A Budget to be balanced? 

a.p. agrawal, Advocate

-   Budget 2008-2009 - Repeating the same mistakes 

v. swaminathan, Chartered Accountant

-   Budget-time thoughts  

q MISCELLANEA

-   Article Browser

case digest/itat

q table of cases digested

Asstt. CIT v. Sahib Forge (Chd. - Trib.) 

Dy. CIT v. Interra Software (India) (P.) Ltd. (Delhi - Trib.) 

Pioneer Equity Trade (India) (P.) Ltd. v. ITO (Mum. - Trib.)  

q subject index to cases digested

Income-tax

Business expenditure

ALLOWABILITY OF

-   Assessment year 2002-03 - Whether where assessee-company, engaged in business of export of goods, incurred expenses on account of travelling, boarding and lodging of business delegates who visited India for business promotional avenues to whom major portion of export was transacted, such expenses could not be said to be for pleasure trip or expenses for non-business purposes and, therefore, same were allowable under section 37(1) - Held, yes - Asstt.CIT .v. Sahib Forge (Chd. - Trib.) 

Free trade zone

-   Assessment year 2002-03 - Whether explicit language of sub-section (5) of section 80HHE cannot be read so as to mean that once assessee has claimed deduction under section 80HHE in respect of profits of an eligible business, it would be debarred for all times to claim deduction under any other provisions of Act in respect of profits of such business for any other assessment year - Held, yes - Assessee-company, engaged in business of development and export of computer software, set up an industrial undertaking/unit in an Export Processing Zone and started commercial operations in previous year relevant to assessment year 1997-98 - In initial assessment year 1997-98, it suffered loss in said unit and, therefore, did not claim exemption under section 10A - However, in assessment year 1998-99, it claimed deduction under section 80HHE in relation to profits of said unit - Thereafter, from assessment year 1999-2000 onwards, assessee claimed exemption under section 10A in respect of profits derived from said unit and same was allowed till assessment year 2001-02 - For relevant assessment year, Assessing Officer rejected assessee’s claim of exemption under section 10A on ground that since assessee was allowed deduction under section 80HHE in assessment year 1998-99, it became ineligible for claiming exemption under section 10A for any other assessment year on basis of provisions of sub-section (5) of section 80HHE - Whether Assessing Officer was justified in rejecting assessee’s claim for relevant assessment year - Held, no - Dy.CIT v. Interra Software (India) (P.) Ltd. (Delhi - Trib.) 

Losses

IN SPECULATION BUSINESS

-   Assessment year 2002-03 - Whether provisions of Explanation to section 73 apply only where any part of business of a company to which provisions apply consists in both purchase and sale of shares of other companies and not purchase alone - Held, yes - Whether where assessee-company was engaged in business of share broking and only in immediately preceding assessment year, it had purchased certain shares of another company and that was solitary transaction carried out by it in shares of other companies on its own account and no part of such shares was sold in immediately preceding assessment year or during relevant assessment year, it could not be said that assessee’s business consisted in purchase and sale of shares of company and, therefore, provisions of Explanation to section 73 were not applicable to assessee - Held, yes - Pioneer Equity Trade (India) (P.) Ltd. v. ITO (Mum. - Trib.) 

Words and Phrases

-   Consists in’ as occurring in Explanation to section 73 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 

Income-tax Act, 1961

-   Section 10A 

-   Section 37(1) 

-   Section 73 

special leave petitions decided by supreme court of india

q Table of cases

CIT v. Adyar Gate Hotel Ltd. 

CIT v. Central Bank of India 

CIT v. Central Bank of India 

CIT v. Grathim Trading Investment (P.) Ltd. 

CIT v. Herbalife International India (P.) Ltd. 

CIT v. Hilltop Holdings India Ltd.

CIT v. Industrial Credit & Investment Corpn. of India Ltd. 

CIT v. Jarmarks Export House Ltd. 

CIT v. K.K.S.K. Leather Processor (P.) Ltd. 

CIT v. Lincon Polymers (P.) Ltd. 

CIT v. Madhusudan Industries Ltd. 

CIT v. Mapco Industries Ltd. 

CIT v. Modi Spg. & Wvg. Mills Co. Ltd. 

CIT v. Mohit Marketing Ltd. 

CIT v. Motor Industries Ltd. 

CIT v. Namdang Tea Company (India) Ltd. 

CIT v. Oil & Natural Gas Commission 

CIT v. Rajeev Ship Breakers 

CIT v. Sanjiv Puri 

CIT v. Saraswati Kunj Co-Op. H.B. Soc. 

CIT v. Shubham Constructions 

CIT v. Tamilnadu Mercantile Bank Ltd. 

CIT v. United Leasing Ltd. 

CIT v. Vijaya V. Karvekar 

CIT v. Vimgi Investment (P.) Ltd. 

CWT v. Hazrat Pir Shah-E-Alam Roza Estate Trust 

CWT v. J.K. Charitable Trust 

DIT (Exemption) v. Escorts Cardiac Disease Hospital Sty. 

ITO v. Kamini Hanskamal Grover 

Jt. CIT v. V.S. Dempo & Co. (P.) Ltd. 

Subbanna Gowramma Family Trust v. CIT 

Union of India v. Mansukh Lal Ratan Lal Jain (Chopra)