Sale of business without transfer of trademark held as slump sale as buyer was in same line of business

The issue before the Tribunal was as under:

Whether sale of manufacturing unit by assessee without transferring his trademark could be held as slump sale?

The Tribunal held in favour of assessee as under:

1) The definition of slump sale' u/s 2(42C) read with the explanation (1) to sec. 2(19AA) of the Income-tax Act makes it clear that 'slump sale' means transfer of one or more undertakings as a result of sale for a lump sum consideration without values being assigned to the individual assets and liabilities in such sale.

2) In the instant case, assessee sold its manufacturing unit of edible oil as a going concern on slump sale basis to the buyer who was already in same line of business. Consideration was decided without assigning value to individual assets and liabilities.

3) Buyer of the manufacturing unit of the edible oil was already in the same business and wanted to sell the products manufactured from manufacturing unit in their own name and brand. They were not keen to buy the name/trade name/logos/trademark/ product name, etc., of the assessee, so, the assessee excluded the same from the transaction.

4) Therefore, mere exclusion of the said intangible assets could not in any way affect the slump sale of the manufacturing unit of assessee. - [2017] 81 taxmann.com 305 (Kolkata - Trib.)