Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Mumbai: Dealing with the issue on disallowance under Section 14A of the Income Tax Act, 1961, the Tribunal has reiterated that no deduction is allowed in respect of expenditure incurred by the Assessee in relation to income which does not form part of the total income under this Act.
The Assessee, in the present case was engaged in the business of banking including foreign exchange transaction. It has branches in India and head office is based out in Muscat. Assessment proceedings were initiated against the Assessee, involving following issues: –
- Assessee credited an amount of ₹ 14,35,542/– as interest received from the head office in its profit and loss account but in the computation of income filed along with the return of income, it has reduced the above said interest income from the taxable income stating that the same is not taxable as it is received from head office. The Assessing Officer brought the above interest received from head office as taxable income of the Assessee.
- Assessee claimed for deduction of specifically incurred expenses by Head Office on behalf of Indian branches of ₹ 45,164/– which were justified by the Assessee as travel expenses and certification fees. The Assessing Officer rejected the contention of the Assessee and made the disallowance of ₹ 45,164/–
- Assessee debited an amount of ₹ 1,64,68,864/– on account of interest paid to the Head Office. In the computation of income, the Assessee added back to the total income stating that the same is not claimed as a deduction in view of the fact it is a payment to self and hence no expenses incurred on amount of payment to self. The Assessing Officer treated the interest received from head office as taxable income and interest paid to head office not treated as taxable since the Assessee has added back this amount to the total income.
Aggrieved by the order passed by the Assessing Officer, Assessee preferred an Appeal before the CIT(A) whereby CIT (A): –
- deleted the interest income received from head office of ₹ 14,35,542/– being income to self and holding the principle of mutuality as provided under the Act is applicable in respect of interest income earned from Head Office.
- deleted the disallowance of ₹ 45,164/- under Section 37 of the Act.
- confirmed that when the income of the assessee is not taxable, the provision of section 14A is applicable for expenditure incurred on income not part of taxable income.
Being aggrieved by the said order, both the parties preferred an Appeal before the ITAT, whereby the issue no. 1 and 2 decided by CIT where upheld. In reference to issue no. 3 the ITAT held that the interest income earned by Assessee dealing with Head Office held that the transaction between the head office and its branch office shall be treated like mutual concerns and all the transaction between them shall be eliminated.
“Therefore, we do not agree with the assessee that only exempt income which is not part of total income alone should be considered to disallowance u/s 14A. As per the provision of section14A at that point of time, it clearly says that no deduction shall be allowed in respect of expenditure incurred by the assessee in relation to income which does not form part of the total income under this Act. Nowhere it says it is confine to exempt income which is not form part of total income.”
The matter was, hence, remitted back to the AO to quantify the disallowance u/s 14A by eliminating the expenditure relevant for earning the above said income, it may not the interest expenditure alone, it will include the administrative and other expenditure.
[DCIT (IT) Versus Oman International Bank S. A. O. G. (now known as HSBC International Bank S.A.O.G.) I.T.A. No. 4174/Mum/2014. Decided on 15.09.2020]
† Advocate, Supreme Court of India and Delhi High Court
