Disallowance from Business/Profession income a Practical Approach

imagesSec­tions 40, 40A and 43B pro­vide the list of expens­es which are specif­i­cal­ly dis­al­lowed while com­put­ing income charge­able to tax under the head “Prof­its and gains of busi­ness or pro­fes­sion”. In this advance learn­ing we will learn about var­i­ous expens­es which are specif­i­cal­ly dis­al­lowed while com­put­ing income charge­able under head “Prof­its and gains of busi­ness or pro­fes­sion”. The detailed pro­vi­sions in this regard are as follows:

Amount not deductible under sec­tion 40(a):

Dis­al­lowance due to default in deduc­tion of tax at source (TDS) in respect of cer­tain pay­ments made out­side India/ in India to a non-res­i­dent [Sec­tion 40(a)(i)]

Any inter­est, roy­al­ty, fees for tech­ni­cal ser­vices or oth­er sum (which is charge­able to tax under the Act) which is payable out­side India to any per­son or in India to a non-res­i­dent, is not deductible, if the assessee has not deduct­ed tax at source from such pay­ments, or after deduct­ing tax, he has not deposit­ed such tax with­the Gov­ern­ment before the end of pre­vi­ous year [or before the due date of deposit spec­i­fied under sec­tion 200(1) in case due date of deposit falls in

next year]. How­ev­er, if tax is deposit­ed in next year(s) after the due date of deposit, then such amount is deductible in the sub­se­quent pre­vi­ous year in which the said tax is deposit­ed by the assessee with Government.

Illus­tra­tion

Mr. Soham has paid fees for tech­ni­cal ser­vices of Rs. 84,000 to Mr. Shan, a non-resident,in India dur­ing the pre­vi­ous year 2012–13. How­ev­er, such fees of Rs. 84,000 are not deductible as busi­ness expen­di­ture dur­ing the pre­vi­ous year 2012–13 if tax has not been deduct­ed at source from such fees or after deduct­ing such tax, it has not been deposit­ed with the Gov­ern­ment before the end of the pre­vi­ous year 2012–13 or before the due date of deposit spec­i­fied under sec­tion 200(1) in case due date of deposit falls in the next year (i.e., in the pre­vi­ous year 2013–14).

Dis­al­lowance due to default in deduc­tion of tax at source (TDS) in respect of cer­tain oth­er pay­ments made to a res­i­dent [Sec­tion 40(a)(ia)]

Any inter­est (liable to TDS under sec­tions 193 and 194A), pay­ment to contractors/subcontractors (liable to TDS under sec­tion 194C), com­mis­sion or bro­ker­age (liable to TDS under sec­tion 194H), rent (liable to TDS under sec­tion 194‑I) and fees for technical/professional ser­vices or roy­al­ty (liable to TDS under sec­tion 194J), paid/payable to a res­i­dent, is not

deductible while com­put­ing income charge­able to tax under the head “Prof­its and gains of busi­ness or pro­fes­sion” if:

  • Tax is deductible at source but is not deducted.
  • With effect from assess­ment year 2010-11, if tax is deduct­ed dur­ing the pre­vi­ous year, and the same has not been paid on or before the due date of fil­ing of return of income spec­i­fied sec­tion 139(1).

In oth­er words, if tax is deduct­ed dur­ing the pre­vi­ous year and the same is paid on or before the due date of fil­ing the return as spec­i­fied in sec­tion 139(1), then the con­cerned expen­di­ture will be allowed as deduc­tion in the pre­vi­ous year in which such expen­di­ture is incurred.

How­ev­er, if in respect of any such sum, tax has been deduct­ed in any sub­se­quent year, or has been deduct­ed dur­ing the pre­vi­ous year but has been paid after the due date spec­i­fied in sec­tion 139(1), such expen­di­ture shall be allowed as a deduc­tion in com­put­ing the income of pre­vi­ous year in which such tax (TDS) has been paid to Government.

Illus­tra­tion

Mr. Raja is run­ning a gar­ment fac­to­ry (turnover dur­ing the pre­ced­ing year was Rs. 2,52,00,000).

In Decem­ber, 2012, he paid com­mis­sion of Rs. 84,000. The entire com­mis­sion was liable to TDS. Con­sid­er the fol­low­ing situations:

(1) He deduct­ed tax (TDS) on com­mis­sion in Decem­ber, 2012 and deposit­ed the TDS with the Gov­ern­ment on 31–3‑2013. In this sit­u­a­tion, such com­mis­sion is deductible dur­ing the pre­vi­ous year 2012–13.

(2) He deduct­ed tax (TDS) on com­mis­sion in Decem­ber, 2012 and deposit­ed the TDS with the Gov­ern­ment on 1-10-2013. In this sit­u­a­tion, such com­mis­sion is deductible dur­ing the pre­vi­ous year 2013–14 (since TDS is deduct­ed dur­ing the pre­vi­ous year 2012–13, but paid after the due date of fil­ing the return of pre­vi­ous year 2012–13).

Dis­al­lowance of cer­tain taxes

By virtue of sec­tion 40(a)(ib)/(ic)/(ii)/(iia) fol­low­ing are not deductible:

 Fringe ben­e­fit tax (how­ev­er FBT has been abol­ished from assess­ment year 2010-11).

 Income-tax (includ­ing inter­est, fine, penal­ty, etc.) whether payable in India or out­side India Wealth tax levied under the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 or sim­i­lar tax charge­able under any law out­side India.

Up to assess­ment year 2008-09, secu­ri­ties trans­ac­tion tax (STT) was not allowed as deduc­tion (how­ev­er, relief under sec­tion 88E was avail­able). From assess­ment year 2009-10, STT is allowed as deduc­tion under sec­tion 36(1)(xv) (thus, relief under sec­tion 88E is no more available).

Illus­tra­tion

Mr. Sipahi has paid income-tax of Rs. 84,252 for the pre­vi­ous year 2012–13, on 15–7‑2013. In this sit­u­a­tion, he can­not deduct the income-tax paid as busi­ness expen­di­ture while com­put­ing busi­ness income for the pre­vi­ous year 2012–13 or in any sub­se­quent year.

Dis­al­lowance due to default in deduction/payment of tax at source (TDS) on salary payable out­side India/in India to a non-res­i­dent [Sec­tion 40(a)(iii)]

Any pay­ment which is charge­able to tax under the head “Salaries” and which is payable out­side India to any per­son or in India to a non-res­i­dent is not deductible, if tax on such salary has not been paid to the Gov­ern­ment nor has been deduct­ed at source.

Illus­tra­tion

Mr. Soham has paid salary of Rs. 84,000 to Mr. Shan, a non-res­i­dent, in India. How­ev­er, from such salary nei­ther the tax is deduct­ed at source nor the tax is deposit­ed with the Gov­ern­ment by Mr. Soham. Hence, he can­not deduct such salary of Rs. 84,000 paid as busi­ness expen­di­ture while com­put­ing the busi­ness income.

Dis­al­lowance due to default in deduc­tion of tax at source (TDS) on pay­ments from prov­i­dent fund, etc. [Sec­tion 40(a)(iv)]

Any pay­ment to a prov­i­dent fund or oth­er fund estab­lished for the ben­e­fit of the employ­ees of the assessee is not deductible, if the assessee has not made effec­tive arrange­ment for secur­ing deduc­tion of tax (TDS) from any pay­ment made from the fund which is charge­able to tax under the head “Salaries”.

Illus­tra­tion

Essem Ltd. made con­tri­bu­tion of Rs. 1,84,252 to the rec­og­nized prov­i­dent fund. How­ev­er, it can­not deduct such con­tri­bu­tion of Rs. 1,84,252 while com­put­ing the busi­ness income if it has not deduct­ed tax at source from any pay­ment made from such prov­i­dent fund which is charge­able to tax under the head “Salaries”.

Dis­al­lowance of tax on non-mon­e­tary perquisites [Sec­tion 40(a)(v)]

By virtue of sec­tion 40(a)(v), tax on non-mon­e­tary perquisites [referred to in sec­tion 10(10CC)], paid by the employ­er is not deductible.

Illus­tra­tion:

Essem Ltd. pays Rs. 40,000 per month as salary to Mr. Kapoor and also pro­vides him a rent-free unfur­nished house (lease rent being Rs. 10,000 per month). The tax on such perquisite of Rs. 5,428 is paid by Essem Ltd. Such tax of Rs. 5,428 is not charge­able to tax in the hands of Mr. Kapoor. Hence, while com­put­ing busi­ness income of Essem Ltd., the tax of Rs. 5,428 paid by it on such non-mon­e­tary perquisite, is not deductible by virtue of sec­tion 40(a)(v).

Amount not deductible under sec­tion 40A:

Dis­al­lowance in case of pay­ment made to rel­a­tives [Sec­tion 40A(2)]

Pay­ment in respect of any expen­di­ture made to any of the fol­low­ing per­sons will be dis­al­lowed till such pay­ment is in excess (or unrea­son­able) of the fair mar­ket val­ue of such expenditure.

The per­sons referred to in this sec­tion include following:

(i) In case of an indi­vid­ual, any rel­a­tive of such individual;

(ii) In case of a com­pa­ny, firm, asso­ci­a­tion of per­sons or Hin­du Undi­vid­ed Fam­i­ly, any direc­tor of the com­pa­ny, part­ner of the firm, or mem­ber of the asso­ci­a­tion or fam­i­ly, or any rel­a­tive of such direc­tor, part­ner or member;

(iii) Any indi­vid­ual who has a sub­stan­tial inter­est in the busi­ness or pro­fes­sion of the assessee, or any rel­a­tive of such an individual;

(iv) A com­pa­ny, firm, asso­ci­a­tion of per­sons or Hin­du Undi­vid­ed Fam­i­ly hav­ing a sub­stan­tial inter­est in the busi­ness or pro­fes­sion of the assessee or any direc­tor, part­ner or mem­ber of such com­pa­ny, firm, asso­ci­a­tion or fam­i­ly, or any rel­a­tive of such direc­tor, part­ner or member;

(v) A com­pa­ny, firm, asso­ci­a­tion of per­sons or Hin­du Undi­vid­ed Fam­i­ly of which a direc­tor, part­ner or mem­ber, as the case may be, has a sub­stan­tial inter­est in the busi­ness or pro­fes­sion of the assessee, or any rel­a­tive of such direc­tor, part­ner or member;

(vi) Any per­son in whose busi­ness the assessee, or his rel­a­tive has a sub­stan­tial inter­est; or

(vii) Any per­son in whose busi­ness the assessee, being a com­pa­ny, firm, asso­ci­a­tion of per­sons or Hin­du Undi­vid­ed Fam­i­ly, or any direc­tor of such com­pa­ny, part­ner of such firm or mem­ber of the asso­ci­a­tion or fam­i­ly, or any rel­a­tive of such direc­tor, part­ner or mem­ber, has a sub­stan­tial interest.

SUBSTANTIAL INTEREST : Sub­stan­tial inter­est hold­er refers to any per­son ben­e­fi­cial­ly hold­ing 20% or more of the equi­ty cap­i­tal (in case of a com­pa­ny) and 20% or more of share in prof­it (in any oth­er case), at any time dur­ing the pre­vi­ous year.

Illus­tra­tion

SM Ltd. pur­chased goods worth Rs. 2,52,000 from one of its direc­tors; how­ev­er, the mar­ket val­ue of such goods is Rs. 2,00,000. In this sit­u­a­tion, Rs. 52,000 (being unrea­son­able) will be dis­al­lowed under sec­tion 40A(2).

Dis­al­lowance in case of pay­ment made by cash, etc. [Sec­tion 40A(3)]

Any expen­di­ture exceed­ing Rs. 20,000, which is oth­er­wise deductible under any pro­vi­sion of the Act, is dis­al­lowed (in full), if the pay­ment of such expen­di­ture is made oth­er­wise than by an account-pay­ee cheque or an account-pay­ee demand draft (i.e., by cash or bear­er cheque or crossed cheque or bear­er demand draft).

How­ev­er, with effect from 1-10-2009, the afore­said lim­it of Rs. 20,000 has been enhanced to Rs. 35,000 in case of pay­ment made for ply­ing, hir­ing or leas­ing of goods carriages.

Rule 6DD pro­vides excep­tion to above pro­vi­sion. In oth­er words, in the cir­cum­stances spec­i­fied in rule 6DD noth­ing will be dis­al­lowed even if the pay­ment exceeds afore­said lim­it. These excep­tions are:

(a) Pay­ment made to the Reserve Bank of India or any bank­ing com­pa­ny or the State Bank of India or any sub­sidiary bank or any co-oper­a­tive bank or land mort­gage bank or any pri­ma­ry agri­cul­tur­al cred­it soci­ety or any pri­ma­ry cred­it soci­ety; the Life Insur­ance Cor­po­ra­tion of India or to the Gov­ern­ment, under the rules framed by it where such pay­ment is required to be made in legal tender;

(b) Pay­ment made by any let­ter of cred­it arrange­ments through a bank or a mail or tele­graph­ic trans­fer through a bank or a book adjust­ment in any account in a bank to any oth­er account in that or any oth­er bank or a bill of exchange made payable only to a bank or the use of elec­tron­ic clear­ing sys­tem through a bank account, cred­it card and a deb­it card.

© Pay­ment made by way of adjust­ment against the amount of any lia­bil­i­ty incurred by the pay­ee for any goods sup­plied or ser­vices ren­dered by the assessee to such payee;

(d) Pay­ment made for the pur­chase of agri­cul­tur­al or for­est pro­duce or the pro­duce of ani­mal hus­bandry (includ­ing live­stock, meat, hides and skins) or dairy or poul­try farm­ing or fish or fish prod­ucts or the prod­ucts of hor­ti­cul­ture or api­cul­ture, to the cul­ti­va­tor, grow­er or pro­duc­er of such arti­cles or products;

(e) Pay­ment made for the pur­chase of the prod­ucts man­u­fac­tured or processed, with­out the aid of pow­er in a cot­tage indus­try to the pro­duc­er of such products;

(f) Pay­ment made in a vil­lage or town, which on the date of such pay­ment is not served by any bank, to any per­son who ordi­nar­i­ly resides, or is car­ry­ing on any busi­ness, pro­fes­sion or voca­tion in any such vil­lage or town (pay­ment made to afore­said per­son at a vil­lage hav­ing bank is not cov­ered by this excep­tion (for details see Press Note, dat­ed 8–5‑1969);

(g) Pay­ment made to an employ­ee or the heirs of such employ­ee, towards ter­mi­nal ben­e­fit and the aggre­gate of such pay­ment does not exceed Rs. 50,000;

(h) Pay­ment made to employ­ee after deduct­ing the required income-tax (TDS) from such salary, when such employ­ee is tem­porar­i­ly post­ed for a con­tin­u­ous peri­od of fif­teen days or more in a place oth­er than his nor­mal place of duty or on a ship and does not main­tain any account in any bank at such place or ship.

(i) Where the pay­ment was required to be made on a day on which the banks were closed either on account of hol­i­day or strike;

(j) Pay­ment made by any per­son to his agent who is required to make pay­ment in cash for goods or ser­vices on behalf of such person;

(k) Pay­ment made by an autho­rised deal­er or a mon­ey chang­er against pur­chase of for­eign cur­ren­cy or trav­ellers cheques in the nor­mal course of his busi­ness (i.e., a per­son autho­rised as an autho­rised deal­er or a mon­ey chang­er to deal in for­eign cur­ren­cy or in for­eign exchange under any law for the time being in force).

Fol­low­ing addi­tion­al pro­vi­sions should be kept in mind in this regard:

  • If any expen­di­ture is cov­ered by sec­tion 40A(2) as well as sec­tion 40A(3), then dis­al­lowance under sec­tion 40A(3) will be of the excess amount, i.e., the bal­ance amount of expen­di­ture remain­ing after giv­ing effect to dis­al­lowance under sec­tion 40A(2).
  • With effect from 1–4‑2008, if any expense has been allowed as deduc­tion in any ear­li­er year(s) and pay­ment of such expense is made (in excess of Rs. 20,000) in pre­vi­ous year 2008-09 or any sub­se­quent year, oth­er­wise than by an account-pay­ee cheque or account pay­ee bank draft, then such expens­es will be dis­al­lowed in full.

Illus­tra­tion

Essem Ltd. pur­chased goods on cred­it from A Ltd. on June 20, 2012 for Rs. 19,000 and on June 25, 2012 for Rs. 12,000. The total pay­ment of Rs. 31,000 was made by crossed cheque on August 12, 2012. In this case, though the total amount of pay­ment exceeds Rs. 20,000, noth­ing shall be dis­al­lowed since the indi­vid­ual amount of bill does not exceed Rs. 20,000. To attract dis­al­lowance, the amount of bill as well as the amount of pay­ment should be more than Rs. 20,000.

Dis­al­lowance in case of cer­tain unpaid lia­bil­i­ties [Sec­tion 43B]

Fol­low­ing expens­es claimed by the assessee are deductible, only if they are actu­al­ly paid by the assessee on or before the due date of fur­nish­ing the return of income (irre­spec­tive of method of account­ing fol­lowed by the assessee):

(a) Any tax, duty, cess or fee, by what­ev­er name called, under any law.

(b) Any sum payable by the assessee as an employ­er by way of con­tri­bu­tion to any fund for the wel­fare of employees.

© Any sum referred to in sec­tion 36(1)(ii) (i.e., bonus or com­mis­sion to employees).

(d) Any sum payable by the assessee as inter­est on any loan or bor­row­ing from any pub­lic finan­cial insti­tu­tion or a State finan­cial cor­po­ra­tion or a State indus­tri­al invest­ment corporation.

(e) Any sum payable by the assessee as inter­est on any loan or advance from a sched­uled bank (includ­ing a co-oper­a­tive bank).

(f) Any sum payable by the assessee as an employ­er in lieu of any leave at the cred­it of his employ­ee (i.e., leave salary).

Any pay­ment which is dis­al­lowed under this sec­tion is deductible in the year of pay­ment. In oth­er words, if any of the above sum is paid after the due date of fur­nish­ing the return of the pre­vi­ous year, then such expen­di­ture is allowed as deduc­tion for the year in which such sum is paid.

Illus­tra­tion

Out­stand­ing sales tax lia­bil­i­ty of the pre­vi­ous year 2012–13 is deductible in pre­vi­ous year 2012- 13, if it is paid on or before the due date of fur­nish­ing the return of income of pre­vi­ous year. How­ev­er, if the said amount is paid after the due date of fur­nish­ing the return of income, then such sum will be deduct­ed in the pre­vi­ous year in which it is paid.

Excep­tions: If the fol­low­ing con­di­tions are sat­is­fied then the above expens­es are deductible on

accru­al basis :

  • Pay­ment in respect of the afore­said expens­es is actu­al­ly made on or before the due date of sub­mis­sion of return of income.
  • The evi­dence of such pay­ment is sub­mit­ted along with the return of income.

If the above two con­di­tions are sat­is­fied and if the assessee main­tains books of account on mer­can­tile basis, then the expen­di­ture is deductible on accru­al basis in the year in which the lia­bil­i­ty is incurred.

FAQs

  1. What are the pro­vi­sions relat­ing to dis­al­lowance under sec­tion 40(a)?

Fol­low­ing is the list of dis­al­lowances under sec­tion 40(a):

Dis­al­lowance due to default in deduc­tion of tax at source (TDS) in respect of cer­tain pay­ments made out­side India/ in India to a non-res­i­dent [Sec­tion 40(a)(i)]

Any inter­est, roy­al­ty, fees for tech­ni­cal ser­vices or oth­er sum (which is charge­able to tax under the Act) which is payable out­side India to any per­son or in India to a non-res­i­dent, is not deductible, if the assessee has not deduct­ed tax at source from such pay­ments, or after deduct­ing tax, he has not deposit­ed such tax with the Gov­ern­ment before the end of pre­vi­ous year [or before the due date of deposit spec­i­fied under sec­tion 200(1) in case due date of deposit falls in next year]. How­ev­er, if tax is deposit­ed in next year(s) after the due date of deposit, then such amount is deductible in the sub­se­quent pre­vi­ous year in which the said tax is deposit­ed by the assessee with Government.

Illus­tra­tion

Mr. Soham has paid fees for tech­ni­cal ser­vices of Rs. 84,000 to Mr. Shan, a non-res­i­dent, in India dur­ing the pre­vi­ous year 2012–13. How­ev­er, such fees of Rs. 84,000 are not deductible as busi­ness expen­di­ture dur­ing the pre­vi­ous year 2012–13 if tax is not deduct­ed at source from such fees or after deduct­ing such tax, it is not deposit­ed with the Gov­ern­ment before the end of the pre­vi­ous year 2012–13 or before the due date of deposit spec­i­fied under sec­tion 200(1) in case due date of deposit falls in the next year (i.e., in the pre­vi­ous year 2013–14).

Dis­al­lowance due to default in deduc­tion of tax at source (TDS) in respect of cer­tain oth­er pay­ments made to a res­i­dent [Sec­tion 40(a)(ia)]

Any inter­est (liable to TDS under sec­tions 193 and 194A), pay­ment to contractors/subcontractors (liable to TDS under sec­tion 194C), com­mis­sion or bro­ker­age (liable to TDS under sec­tion 194H), rent (liable to TDS under sec­tion 194‑I) and fees for technical/professional ser­vices or roy­al­ty (liable to TDS under sec­tion 194J), paid/payable to a res­i­dent, is not deductible while com­put­ing income charge­able to tax under the head “Prof­its and gains of busi­ness or pro­fes­sion” if:

  • Tax is deductible at source but is not deducted;
  • With effect from the assess­ment year 2010-11, if tax is deduct­ed dur­ing the pre­vi­ous year, and the same is not paid on or before the due date of fil­ing of return of income spec­i­fied sec­tion 139(1).

In oth­er words, if tax is deduct­ed dur­ing the pre­vi­ous year and the same is paid on or before the due date of fil­ing the return as spec­i­fied in sec­tion 139(1), then the expen­di­ture will be allowed as deduc­tion in the pre­vi­ous year in which such expen­di­ture is incurred.

How­ev­er, if in respect of any such sum tax has been deduct­ed in any sub­se­quent year, or has been deduct­ed dur­ing the pre­vi­ous year but has been paid after the due date spec­i­fied in sec­tion 139(1), then such expen­di­ture shall be allowed as a deduc­tion in com­put­ing the income of pre­vi­ous year in which such tax (TDS) has been paid to Government.

Illus­tra­tion

Mr. Raja is run­ning a gar­ment fac­to­ry (turnover dur­ing the pre­ced­ing year was Rs. 2,52,00,000). In Decem­ber, 2012, he paid com­mis­sion of Rs. 84,000. The entire com­mis­sion was liable to TDS. Con­sid­er the fol­low­ing situations:

(1) He deduct­ed tax (TDS) on com­mis­sion in Decem­ber, 2012 and deposit­ed the TDS with the Gov­ern­ment on 31–3‑2013. In this sit­u­a­tion such com­mis­sion is deductible dur­ing the pre­vi­ous year 2012–13.

(2) He deduct­ed tax (TDS) on com­mis­sion in Decem­ber, 2012 and deposit­ed the TDS with the Gov­ern­ment on 1-10-2013. In this sit­u­a­tion com­mis­sion is deductible dur­ing the pre­vi­ous year 2013–14 (since TDS has been deduct­ed dur­ing the pre­vi­ous year 2012–13, but has been paid after the due date of fil­ing the return of pre­vi­ous year 2012–13).

  1. What tax­es are dis­al­lowed while com­put­ing income charge­able to tax under the head “Prof­its and gains of busi­ness or profession”?

Fol­low­ing tax­es are dis­al­lowed while com­put­ing income charge­able to tax under the head “Prof­its and gains of busi­ness or profession”

By virtue of sec­tion 40(a)(ib)/(ic)/(ii)/(iia) fol­low­ing are not deductible:

  • Fringe ben­e­fit tax (how­ev­er, FBT is abol­ished from assess­ment year 2010-11).
  • Income-tax (includ­ing inter­est, fine, penal­ty, etc.) whether payable in India or out­side India
  • Wealth tax levied under Wealth-tax Act, 1957 or sim­i­lar tax charge­able under any law out­side India.

Up to assess­ment year 2008-09, secu­ri­ties trans­ac­tion tax (STT) was not allowed as deduc­tion (how­ev­er, relief under sec­tion 88E was avail­able). From assess­ment year 2009-10, STT is allowed as deduc­tion under sec­tion 36(1)(xv) (thus, relief under sec­tion 88E is no more available).

Illus­tra­tion

Mr. Sipahi has paid income-tax of Rs. 84,252 payable for the pre­vi­ous year 2012–13, on 15–7- 2013. In this sit­u­a­tion, he can­not deduct the income-tax paid as busi­ness expen­di­ture while com­put­ing busi­ness income for the pre­vi­ous year 2012–13 or in any sub­se­quent year.

  1. What are the pro­vi­sions relat­ing to dis­al­lowance due to default in deduction/payment of tax at source (TDS) on salary payable out­side India/in India to a non-resident?

Fol­low­ing are the pro­vi­sions relat­ing to dis­al­lowance due to default in deduction/payment of tax at source (TDS) on salary payable out­side India/in India to a non-resident:

Any pay­ment which is charge­able to tax under the head “Salaries” which is payable out­side India to any per­son or in India to a non-res­i­dent is not deductible, if tax on such salary has not been paid to the Gov­ern­ment nor deduct­ed at source.

Illus­tra­tion

Mr. Soham has paid salary of Rs. 84,000 to Mr. Shan, a non-res­i­dent, in India. How­ev­er, from such salary nei­ther the tax is deduct­ed at source nor is the tax deposit­ed with the Gov­ern­ment by Mr. Soham. Hence, he can­not deduct such salary of Rs. 84,000 paid as busi­ness expen­di­ture while com­put­ing the busi­ness income.

  1. What are the pro­vi­sions relat­ing to dis­al­lowance due to default in deduc­tion of tax at source (TDS) on pay­ments from prov­i­dent fund?

Fol­low­ing are the pro­vi­sions relat­ing to dis­al­lowance due to default in deduc­tion of tax at source

(TDS) on pay­ments from prov­i­dent fund :

Any pay­ment to a prov­i­dent fund or oth­er fund estab­lished for the ben­e­fit of the employ­ees of the assessee is not deductible, if the assessee has not made effec­tive arrange­ment for secur­ing deduc­tion of tax (TDS) from any pay­ment made from the fund which is charge­able to tax under the head “Salaries”.

Illus­tra­tion

Essem Ltd. made con­tri­bu­tion of Rs. 1,84,252 to the rec­og­nized prov­i­dent fund. How­ev­er, it can­not deduct such con­tri­bu­tion of Rs. 1,84,252 while com­put­ing the busi­ness income if it has not deduct­ed tax at source from any pay­ment made from such prov­i­dent fund which is charge­able to tax under the head “Salaries”.

  1. What are the pro­vi­sions relat­ing to dis­al­lowance of tax on non-mon­e­tary perquisites?

Fol­low­ing are the pro­vi­sions relat­ing to dis­al­lowance of tax on non-mon­e­tary perquisites:

By virtue of sec­tion 40(a)(v), tax on non-mon­e­tary perquisites [referred to in sec­tion 10(10CC)], paid by the employ­er is not deductible.

Illus­tra­tion

Essem Ltd. pays Rs. 40,000 per month as salary to Mr. Kapoor and also pro­vides him a rent-free unfur­nished house (lease rent being Rs. 10,000 per month). The tax on such perquisite of Rs. 5,428 is paid by Essem Ltd. Such tax of Rs. 5,428 is not charge­able to tax in the hands of Mr. Kapoor. Hence, while com­put­ing busi­ness income of Essem Ltd., the tax of Rs. 5,428 paid by it on such non-mon­e­tary perquisite is not deductible by virtue of sec­tion 40(a)(v).

  1. What are the pro­vi­sions relat­ing to dis­al­lowance under sec­tion 40A?

Fol­low­ing are the pro­vi­sions relat­ing to dis­al­lowance under sec­tion 40A:

Pay­ment in respect of any expen­di­ture made to any of the fol­low­ing per­sons will be dis­al­lowed till the extent such pay­ment is in excess (or unrea­son­able) of the fair mar­ket val­ue of such expenditure.

The per­sons referred to in this sec­tion include following:

(i) In case of an indi­vid­ual, any rel­a­tive of such an individual;

(ii) In case of a com­pa­ny, firm, asso­ci­a­tion of per­sons or Hin­du Undi­vid­ed Fam­i­ly, any direc­tor of the com­pa­ny, part­ner of the firm, or mem­ber of the asso­ci­a­tion or fam­i­ly, or any rel­a­tive of such direc­tor, part­ner or member;

(iii) Any indi­vid­ual who has a sub­stan­tial inter­est in the busi­ness or pro­fes­sion of the assessee, or any rel­a­tive of such an individual;

(iv) A com­pa­ny, firm, asso­ci­a­tion of per­sons or Hin­du Undi­vid­ed Fam­i­ly hav­ing a sub­stan­tial inter­est in the busi­ness or pro­fes­sion of the assessee or any direc­tor, part­ner or mem­ber of such com­pa­ny, firm, asso­ci­a­tion or fam­i­ly, or any rel­a­tive of such direc­tor, part­ner or member;

(v) A com­pa­ny, firm, asso­ci­a­tion of per­sons or Hin­du Undi­vid­ed Fam­i­ly of which a direc­tor, part­ner or mem­ber, as the case may be, has a sub­stan­tial inter­est in the busi­ness or pro­fes­sion of the assessee or any rel­a­tive of such direc­tor, part­ner or member;

(vi) Any per­son in whose busi­ness the assessee or his rel­a­tive has a sub­stan­tial inter­est; or

(vii) Any per­son in whose busi­ness the assessee, being a com­pa­ny, firm, asso­ci­a­tion of per­sons or Hin­du Undi­vid­ed Fam­i­ly, or any direc­tor of such com­pa­ny, part­ner of such firm or mem­ber of the asso­ci­a­tion or fam­i­ly, or any rel­a­tive of such direc­tor, part­ner or mem­ber, has a sub­stan­tial interest.

SUBSTANTIAL INTEREST : Sub­stan­tial inter­est hold­er refers to any per­son ben­e­fi­cial­ly hold­ing 20% or more of the equi­ty cap­i­tal (in case of a com­pa­ny) and 20% or more of share in prof­it (in any oth­er case), at any time dur­ing the pre­vi­ous year.

Illus­tra­tion

SM Ltd. pur­chased goods worth Rs. 2,52,000 from one of its direc­tors. How­ev­er, the mar­ket val­ue of such goods is Rs. 2,00,000. In this sit­u­a­tion, Rs. 52,000 (being unrea­son­able) will be dis­al­lowed under sec­tion 40A(2).

  1. What are the pro­vi­sions relat­ing to dis­al­lowance in case of pay­ment made by cash, etc.?

Fol­low­ing are the pro­vi­sions relat­ing to dis­al­lowance in case of pay­ment made by cash, etc.:

Any expen­di­ture exceed­ing Rs. 20,000, which is oth­er­wise deductible under any pro­vi­sion of the Act, is dis­al­lowed (in full), if the pay­ment of such an expen­di­ture is made oth­er­wise than by an account-pay­ee cheque or an account-pay­ee demand draft (i.e., by cash or bear­er cheque or crossed cheque or bear­er demand draft).

How­ev­er, with effect from 1-10-2009, the afore­said lim­it of Rs. 20,000 has been enhanced to Rs. 35,000 in case of pay­ment made for ply­ing, hir­ing or leas­ing of goods carriages.

Rule 6DD pro­vides excep­tion to above pro­vi­sion. In oth­er words, in the cir­cum­stances spec­i­fied in rule 6DD, noth­ing will be dis­al­lowed even if the pay­ment exceeds afore­said lim­it. These excep­tions are as follows:

(a) Pay­ment made to the Reserve Bank of India or any bank­ing com­pa­ny or the State Bank of India or any sub­sidiary bank or any co-oper­a­tive bank or land mort­gage bank or any pri­ma­ry agri­cul­tur­al cred­it soci­ety or any pri­ma­ry cred­it soci­ety; the Life Insur­ance Cor­po­ra­tion of India or to the Gov­ern­ment under the rules framed by it, where such pay­ment is required to be made in legal tender;

(b) Pay­ment made by any let­ter of cred­it arrange­ments through a bank or a mail or tele­graph­ic trans­fer through a bank or a book adjust­ment from any account in a bank to any oth­er account in that or any oth­er bank or a bill of exchange made payable only to a bank or the use of elec­tron­ic clear­ing sys­tem through a bank account, cred­it card and a deb­it card.

© Pay­ment made by way of adjust­ment against the amount of any lia­bil­i­ty incurred by the pay­ee for any goods sup­plied or ser­vices ren­dered by the assessee to such payee;

(d) Pay­ment made for the pur­chase of agri­cul­tur­al or for­est pro­duce or the pro­duce of ani­mal hus­bandry (includ­ing live­stock, meat, hides and skins) or dairy or poul­try farm­ing or fish or fish prod­ucts or the prod­ucts of hor­ti­cul­ture or api­cul­ture to the cul­ti­va­tor, grow­er or pro­duc­er of such arti­cles or products;

(e) Pay­ment made for the pur­chase of the prod­ucts man­u­fac­tured or processed, with­out the aid of pow­er in a cot­tage indus­try, to the pro­duc­er of such products;

(f) Pay­ment made in a vil­lage or town, which on the date of such pay­ment is not served by any bank, to any per­son who ordi­nar­i­ly resides or is car­ry­ing on any busi­ness, pro­fes­sion or voca­tion, in any such vil­lage or town (pay­ment made to afore­said per­son at a vil­lage hav­ing bank is not cov­ered by this excep­tion (for details see Press Note, dat­ed 8–5‑1969);

(g) Pay­ment made to an employ­ee or the heirs of such employ­ee towards ter­mi­nal ben­e­fit and the aggre­gate of such pay­ment does not exceed Rs. 50,000;

(h) Pay­ment made to employ­ee after deduct­ing income-tax (TDS) from such salary, when such employ­ee is tem­porar­i­ly post­ed for a con­tin­u­ous peri­od of fif­teen days or more in a place oth­er than his nor­mal place of duty or on a ship and does not main­tain any account in any bank at such place or ship.

(i) Where the pay­ment was required to be made on a day on which the banks were closed either on account of hol­i­day or strike;

(j) Pay­ment made by any per­son to his agent who is required to make pay­ment in cash for goods or ser­vices on behalf of such person;

(k) Pay­ment made by an autho­rised deal­er or a mon­ey chang­er against pur­chase of for­eign cur­ren­cy or trav­ellers cheques in the nor­mal course of his busi­ness (i.e., a per­son autho­rised as an autho­rised deal­er or a mon­ey chang­er to deal in for­eign cur­ren­cy or for­eign exchange under any law for the time being in force).

Fol­low­ing addi­tion­al pro­vi­sions should be kept in mind in this regard:

  • If any expen­di­ture is cov­ered by sec­tion 40A(2) as well as sec­tion 40A(3), then dis­al­lowance under sec­tion 40A(3) will be of the excess amount, i.e., the bal­ance amount of expen­di­ture remain­ing after giv­ing effect to dis­al­lowance under sec­tion 40A(2).
  • With effect from 1–4‑2008, if any expense has been allowed as deduc­tion in any ear­li­er year(s) and pay­ment of such expense is made (in excess of Rs. 20,000) in pre­vi­ous year 2008-09 or any sub­se­quent year, oth­er­wise than by an account-pay­ee cheque or account pay­ee bank draft, then such expens­es will be dis­al­lowed in full.

Illus­tra­tion

Essem Ltd. pur­chased goods on cred­it from A Ltd. on June 20, 2012 for Rs. 19,000 and on June 25, 2012 for Rs. 12,000. The total pay­ment of Rs. 31,000 is made by crossed cheque on August 12, 2012. In this case, though the total amount of pay­ment exceeds Rs. 20,000, yet noth­ing shall be dis­al­lowed since the indi­vid­ual amount of bill does not exceed Rs. 20,000. To attract dis­al­lowance the amount of bill as well as the amount of pay­ment should be more than Rs. 20,000.

  1. What are the pro­vi­sions relat­ing to dis­al­lowance in case of cer­tain unpaid liabilities?

Fol­low­ing are the pro­vi­sions relat­ing to dis­al­lowance in case of cer­tain unpaid liabilities:

Fol­low­ing expens­es claimed by the assessee are deductible, only if they are actu­al­ly paid by the assessee on or before the due date of fur­nish­ing the return of income (irre­spec­tive of method of account­ing fol­lowed by the assessee):

(a) Any tax, duty, cess or fee, by what­ev­er name called, under any law.

(b) Any sum payable by the assessee as an employ­er by way of con­tri­bu­tion to any fund for the wel­fare of employees.

© Any sum referred to in sec­tion 36(1)(ii) (i.e., bonus or com­mis­sion to employees).

(d) Any sum payable by the assessee as inter­est on any loan or bor­row­ing from any pub­lic finan­cial insti­tu­tion or a State finan­cial cor­po­ra­tion or a State indus­tri­al invest­ment corporation.

(e) Any sum payable by the assessee as inter­est on any loan or advances from a sched­uled bank (includ­ing a co-oper­a­tive bank).

(f) Any sum payable by the assessee as an employ­er in lieu of any leave at the cred­it of his employ­ee (i.e., leave salary).

Any pay­ment which is dis­al­lowed under this sec­tion is deductible in the year of pay­ment. In oth­er words, if any of the above sums is paid after the due date of fur­nish­ing the return of the pre­vi­ous year, then such expen­di­ture is allowed as deduc­tion for the year in which such sum is paid.

Illus­tra­tion

Out­stand­ing sales tax lia­bil­i­ty of the pre­vi­ous year 2012–13 is deductible in pre­vi­ous year 2012- 13, if it is paid on or before the due date of fur­nish­ing the return of income of pre­vi­ous year.

How­ev­er, if the said amount is paid after the due date of fur­nish­ing the return of income, then such sum will be deduct­ed in the pre­vi­ous year in which it is paid.

Excep­tions: If the fol­low­ing con­di­tions are sat­is­fied then the above expens­es are deductible on accru­al basis:

  • Pay­ment in respect of the afore­said expens­es is actu­al­ly made on or before the due date of sub­mis­sion of return of income;
  • The evi­dence of such pay­ment is sub­mit­ted along with the return of income.

If the above two con­di­tions are sat­is­fied and if the assessee main­tains books of account on mer­can­tile basis then the expen­di­ture is deductible on accru­al basis in the year in which the lia­bil­i­ty is incurred.

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