Saturday, June 20, 2015

ITAT makes Sec. 43B disallowance even when assessee opts for presumptive taxation scheme


IT: Non-payment of statutory liability before due date of filing of return would attract disallowance under Section 43B even if assessee had offered his income on presumptive basis.

Issue


Whether disallowance of Section 43B could be made even when assessee opted for presumptive taxation Scheme?

The Tribunal held in favour of revenue as under:

a)Under the presumptive taxation scheme, income of an assessee is computed at a fixed percentage of turnover and it would be deemed that that all deductions allowable under the head business or profession have already been allowed to assessee. In other words deductions allowable under Sections 28 to 43C are deemed to have been granted to assessee.

b)Perusal of provisions of Section 43B shows that said provision is a restriction on allowance of particular expenditure, inter-alia, statutory liability, as it allows deduction of such liability on actual payment basis, i.e., expenditure shall not be allowed to be deducted unless same has been paid before the due date of filing the return.

c)Section 44AF starts with the words “notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in Sec. 28 to 43C”, whereas section 43B starts with the words “notwithstanding anything contained in any other provisions of this Act”.

d)The non-obstante clause in Sec. 43B has a far wider amplitude because it uses the words “notwithstanding anything contained in any other provisions of this Act”. Therefore, even assuming that the deduction is permissible or the deduction is deemed to have been allowed under any other provisions of this Act, still the control placed by the provisions of Sec. 43B in respect of the statutory liabilities still holds precedence over such allowance.

e)Hence, disallowance could be made by invoking the provisions of Sec. 43B in respect of the statutory liabilities, even though the assessee offered his income to tax on presumptive basis.

Editor’s Note:

In the instant case, assessee has offered his income to tax on presumptive basis under Section 44AF. Provisions of Section 44AF are not applicable from assessment year beginning on or after the April 1, 2011. Thus, it can be inferred that the principal laid down by the ITAT would squarely apply when taxpayer has opted for presumptive taxation scheme under Section 44AD or Section 44AE.

No comments: