Friday, September 19, 2014

No disallowance of exp. incurred by trust on international conference/training for advancing objects of trust


Expenditure incurred by a charitable trust on international conference or training could not be disallowed on ground that it was not notified in a circular issued by CBDT.

Facts:


The issues that arose for consideration before the Tribunal was as under:

Whether expenditure incurred by a charitable trust on international conference or training could be disallowed on ground that it was not a charitable activity because it was not supported by special or general order of CBDT?

The Tribunal held in favour of assessee as under:

1)The expenditure was incurred by the trust for attending international conferences/seminars by its secretary, which had the purpose of advancing the objects of trust. It was not for the personal benefit of the Secretary, therefore, it could not be said that such expenditure was not incurred for charitable purposes.

2)It was neither necessary nor required as per the statute that for availing of exemption under section 11, a particular charitable activity had to be notified in a circular issued by the CBDT.

3)Hence, disallowance made by AO by simply observing that attendance made in international conference or training could not be said to be a charitable activity as it was not supported by special or general order of CBDT, was totally contrary to the statutory provisions. - DEPUTY DIT (EXEMPTION) V. SOCIETY FOR INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT IN URBAN & RURAL AREAS (SIDDUR) [2014] 48 taxmann.com 330 (Hyderabad - Trib.)