Income Tax Appellate Tribunal - Pune
Dar Al - Handasah Consultants (Shair & ... vs Assistant Commissioner Of ... on 30 November, 2016
आयकर अपील�य अ�धकरण पुणे �यायपीठ "ए" पुणे म�
IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL
PUNE BENCH "A", PUNE
सु�ी सुषमा चावला, �या�यक सद�य एवं �ी अ�नल चतुव�द�, लेखा सद�य के सम�
BEFORE MS. SUSHMA CHOWLA, JM AND SHRI ANIL CHATURVEDI, AM
आयकर अपील सं. / ITA No. 151/PN/2015
�नधा�रण वष� / Assessment Year: 2012-13
Dar Al-Handasah Consultants
(Shair and Partners) India Pvt. Ltd.,
Tower 11, Cybercity, Level 2,
Wing A & B, Magarpatta City,
Hadapsar, Pune - 411013 .... अपीलाथ�/Appellant
PAN: AACCD6524H
Vs.
The Asst. Commissioner of Income Tax ,
CPC, Bangalore .... ��यथ� / Respondent
अपीलाथ� क� ओर से / Appellant by : Shri Rajendra Agiwal
��यथ� क� ओर से / Respondent by : Shri P.L. Kureel
सुनवाई क� तार�ख / घोषणा क� तार�ख /
Date of Hearing : 29.11.2016 Date of Pronouncement: 30.11.2016
आदे श / ORDER
PER SUSHMA CHOWLA, JM:
This appeal filed by the assessee is against the order of CIT(A)-I, Pune, dated 01.10.2014 relating to assessment year 2012-13 against Intimation issued under section 143(1) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (in short 'the Act'). 2 ITA No.151/PN/2015
Dar Al-Handasah Consultants (Shair and Partners) India Pvt. Ltd.
2. The assessee has raised the following grounds of appeal:-
Based on the facts and circumstances of the case, the Appellant respectfully submits that the learned CIT(A) has erred on the following grounds, which are independent of and without prejudice to each other:
1. The learned CIT(A) erred in upholding the action of the Assessing Officer of determining the refund of Rs.15,69,210 as against a refund of Rs.26,91,070 claimed by the Appellant in its return of income.
The Appellant prays that the refund of Rs.26,91,070, as claimed in the return of income be granted to the Appellant.
2. The learned CIT(A) erred in upholding the action of the Assessing Officer of levying surcharge and education cess on entire tax liability under normal provision of the Income Tax Act, 1961 ('Act') instead of levying the same on an amount arrived at after reducing MAT credit from tax liability as per normal provisions of the Act.
The Appellant prays that the surcharge and education cess be levied on tax liability after reducing MAT credit from tax liability as per normal provisions of the Act.
3. The learned CIT(A) erred in upholding the action of the Assessing Officer of restricting the MAT credit utilization to Rs.1,37,42,631 (i.e. MAT credit excluding surcharge and education cess) and not allowing the MAT credit utilization of Rs.1,48,62,655 (i.e. MAT credit including surcharge and education cess) as claimed under section 115JAA of the Act. The Appellant prays that the above MAT credit of Rs .1,48,62,655 (i.e. MAT credit including surcharge and education cess) be allowed for the purpose of computing its taxable income for AY 2012 -13.
3. The issue raised in the present appeal is against restriction of MAT credit utilization to Rs.1,37,42,631/- i.e. MAT credit excluding Surcharge and Education Cess and not allowing the MAT credit utilization of Rs.1,48,62,655/- as claimed under section 115JAA of the Act.
4. The learned Authorized Representative for the assessee at the outset pointed out that the issue raised in the present appeal is by way of ground of appeal No.3 and grounds of appeal No.1 & 2 are consequent thereto.
5. Briefly, in the facts of the case, the assessee was performing IT enabled design engineering related work mainly for building and infrastructure development 3 ITA No.151/PN/2015 Dar Al-Handasah Consultants (Shair and Partners) India Pvt. Ltd.
projects with the use of computers, etc. The assessee had furnished the return of income declaring total income of Rs.9,95,86,210/- which was processed under section 143(1) of the Act and demand of Rs.1,45,82,460/- was raised. The assessee noted that in the Intimation issued under section 143(1) of the Act, MAT credit claimed by the assessee in its return of income of Rs.1.48 crores was not allowed by the ACIT. Further, there was short credit of TDS of Rs.1,840/- resulting in demand of Rs.1,45,82,460/-. The assessee filed an appeal before the CIT(A) against the Intimation issued under section 143(1) of the Act. Simultaneously, an application for rectification under section 154 of the Act was filed before the CIT(A), who passed an order under section 154 of the Act rectifying the demand of the assessee. As per the order under section 154 of the Act, MAT credit was given to the extent of Rs.1.37 crores instead of Rs.1.48 crores claimed by the assessee and credit was allowed for balance TDS of Rs.1,840/-. The assessee received refund of Rs.15,69,207/- as against refund of Rs.26,91,070/-.
6. The assessee filed an appeal before the CIT(A) against the said order passed under section 154 of the Act. The CIT(A) took both the appeals of assessee on account of identical issue together and disposed of the same after considering the submissions of the assessee. The CIT(A) vide para 4.3 held as under:-
"4.3 The various contentions raised by the Ld. Counsel for the appellant are carefully examined with reference to the provisions of sec.115JB r.w.s. 11 5JAA as applicable to the year under consideration. The main contention of the appellant is that the approach adopted by the learned AO is a mixed approach leading to disparity in the computation of tax liability by considering the term 'tax' in a different manner while computing tax as per normal provision of Act vis-a-vis computation of MAT credit. It is argued that on principle of parity, when the tax payable as per normal provisions includes Surcharge and Education Cess, MAT credit also has to be considered including surcharge and Education Cess. Whereas the stand of the Assessing Officer is that the MAT credit has to be considered excluding surcharge and Education Cess. Sections 115JB(1) and 115JB(2) provide that book profit shall be deemed to be total income of the assessee and tax payable by the assessee on such total income shall be the amount of income 4 ITA No.151/PN/2015 Dar Al-Handasah Consultants (Shair and Partners) India Pvt. Ltd.
tax at specified rate of tax. The tax defined under section 2(43) means only income-tax and does not include surcharge and Education Cess. Surcharge and Education Cess are levied under the Finance Act and not under the Income-tax Act. Even though, the surcharge may be described as a part of Income-tax, yet it is treated differently as a separate category and levied according to the Finance Act. Wherever the intention of the legislature is to include surcharge and Education Cess in Income tax, it has been specifically provided like in Explanation-2 to section 115J B. Similarly, column 14 of Form 29B, which is filed along with return of income where MAT is applicable, states that the amount of Income tax payable by the company would be at a specified percent of col. 12. i.e. book profits and i t does not state surcharge or Education Cess. Therefore, if only income tax is paid under the provisions of section 115J B it is natural that tax credit u/s 115JAA will only be of income tax and not of Surcharge and Education Cess. The decisions relied upon by the appellant were rendered in a different context while interpreting the meaning of expression 'total turnover' vis-a-vis 'export turnover' for the purpose of deduction under sec.10A & 10B in the absence of definition of the term 'total turnover' in the said sections. The decisions rendered in these cases cannot be extended to the facts of the present case when the expression 'tax' was clearly defined in sec. 2(43) of the I.T. Act to mean only income-tax. In this context, reference can be made to the decision of ITAT Delhi in the case of Richa Global Exports Pvt. Ltd. vs. ACIT (25 Taxman.com
1), wherein i t was categorically held that MAT payable under sec.115J8 is only income tax and does not include surcharge or Education cess and if only income tax is paid under the provisions of sec.115JB, it is natural that a tax credit under sec.115AA will only be of income tax and not of surcharge and Education Cess. In view of this legal position, tax credit u/s 115JAA does not include surcharge and Education Cess and in the rectification order read with intimation under sec.143(1), credit under sec.115JAA was correctly allowed after excluding Surcharge and Education Cess."
7. The assessee is in appeal against the order of CIT(A) and is aggrieved by short allowance of credit on account of MAT credit i.e. restriction in the quantum of refund to be issued to the assessee at Rs.15,69,207/- as against the claim of Rs.26,91,070/-.
8. The learned Authorized Representative for the assessee pointed out that the CIT(A) had denied the claim on the ground that section 115JAA of the Act does not include Surcharge and Education Cess and reliance was placed on the ratio laid down by the Delhi Bench of Tribunal in Richa Global Exports Pvt. Ltd. Vs. ACIT reported in 25 Taxman.com 1 . The learned Authorized Representative for the assessee pointed out that the Hyderabad Bench of Tribunal after referring to the decision of Delhi Bench of Tribunal and in turn relying on the decision of 5 ITA No.151/PN/2015 Dar Al-Handasah Consultants (Shair and Partners) India Pvt. Ltd.
Hon'ble Supreme Court had allowed the claim of assessee. He stressed that the issue before us was same and even year of appeal was the same and since the issue was fully covered in favour of the assessee, the claim of assessee should be allowed.
9. The learned Departmental Representative for the Revenue on the other hand, placed reliance on the order of CIT(A).
10. We have heard the rival contentions and perused the record. The short issue which arises before us is in relation to computation of taxes as per normal provisions of the Act and the allowance of MAT credit. The assessee was found to be eligible for payment of taxes under normal provisions of the Act since the taxes as per MAT provisions were on lower side. The assessee claimed that MAT credit of Rs.1,48,62,655/- should be allowed to the assessee and the Assessing Officer on the other hand, while processing the return of income under section 143(1) of the Act allowed MAT credit at Nil and thereafter under section 154 of the Act to the extent of Rs.1,37,42,631/- i.e. without Surcharge and Education Cess. The CIT(A) was of the view that MAT payable under section 115JAA of the Act was only income tax and it does not include Surcharge or Education Cess. In this regard, reliance was placed on the ratio laid down by Delhi Bench of Tribunal in Richa Global Exports Pvt. Ltd. Vs. ACIT (supra). Similar issue of allowance of tax credit for tax paid on deemed income i.e. computation of eligible MAT credit arose before the Hyderabad Bench of Tribunal in Virtusa (India) (P) Ltd. Vs. DCIT (2016) 157 ITD 1160 (Hyd). The Hyderabad Bench of Tribunal held that the tax liabilities for normal provisions as well as MAT to be calculated with Surcharge and Education Cess and the assessee was entitled to total MAT credit adjustments i.e. against taxes and Surcharge and Cess. In this regard, reference was made to sub-section 6 ITA No.151/PN/2015 Dar Al-Handasah Consultants (Shair and Partners) India Pvt. Ltd.
(5) to section 115JAA of the Act i.e. for setting o ff in respect of brought forward tax credit and it was held that the term used 'tax' included surcharge and it was held as under:-
"9.6 The tax liabilities for normal provisions as well as MAT are calculated with surcharge and cess. The MAT credit in row "7" are calculated automatically using the prescribed algorithm, this is nothing but balancing figure i.e., the difference between tax liability as per normal provisions and MAT provisions. Both the above tax liabilities are calculated with surcharge and cess. These are the standard format, which are expected to be followed by all the assessees and also important to note that the above format of ITR 6 was amended w.e.f. AY 2012 -13 by CBDT. Moreover, this is more relevant for the department also. These formats are regulated by CBDT. Assessing Officer cannot overlook these formats and (interpret it in his own method of calculating tax credit while making assessment u/s 143(1) of the Act.) proceed to calculate the MAT credit to compute assessment u/s 143(1) applying different methods when the proper and correct method as proposed by CBDT in ITR-6. The Assessing Officer is expected to follow the ITR-6 format to complete the assessment u/s 143(1) or 143(3) of the Act."
11. The Hyderabad Bench of Tribunal also referred to the facts and issue decided in Richa Global Exports Pvt. Ltd. Vs. ACIT (supra) and held as under:-
"9.5 Let us also analyse the case law of Richa Global Exports Pvt. Ltd. which was applied by CIT(A), the Delhi ITAT opined that section 115JAA applied only to income tax, not of income tax as increased by surcharge and education cess. We are of the view that the Apex court decision in the case of K. Srinivasan (supra) may not have been brought to the knowledge of the ITAT, Delhi. Moreover, the explanation 2 of section 115JB is applicable to calculate tax liability u/s 115JB and the same explanation should also be applied for giving credit u/s 115JAA. The tax liabilities calculated u/s 115JB by applying the explanation 2, the tax liability so computed are remitted by the assessee and then the same was carried forward for future MAT credit. In our view, while calculating the MAT credit u/s 115JAA, the same explanation '2' in section 115JB must be applied.
9.6 The earlier judgments in the cases of Universal Medicare, Valmet India and Wyeth Limited are decided relying on the ITR - 6 as applicable in those AYs. Similarly, we also apply the ITR 6 format as applicable to AY 2012 -13 as stated above. Assessee has relied on the ITR - 6 format to arrive at the total liability as well as the MAT credit calculations and paid tax accordingly. In our view, the assessee had followed the procedure properly and the Assessing Officer had made the calculations applying his own interpretation or relied on the programme, we are not sure whether it is programme hitch or the interpretation of Assessing Officer was not in line with the calculations proposed in ITR-6. Therefore, we delete the addition made."
12. The issue arising in the present appeal is identical to the issue before the Hyderabad Bench of Tribunal and applying the same parity of reasoning, we hold that the assessee is entitled to MAT credit utilization of Rs.1.48 crores i.e. MAT 7 ITA No.151/PN/2015 Dar Al-Handasah Consultants (Shair and Partners) India Pvt. Ltd.
credit including surcharge and education cess. Accordingly, we direct the Assessing Officer to re-compute the refund in the hands of assessee. The grounds of appeal raised by the assessee are thus, allowed.
13. In the result, appeal of assessee is allowed.
Order pronounced on this 30th day of November, 2016.
Sd/- Sd/-
(ANIL CHATURVEDI ) (SUSHMA CHOWLA)
लेखा सद�य / ACCOUNTANT MEMBER �या�यक सद�य / JUDICIAL MEMBER
पुणे / Pune; �दनांक Dated : 30th November, 2016.
GCVSR
आदे श क� ��त�ल�प अ�े�षत/Copy of the Order is forwarded to :
1. अपीलाथ� / The Appellant;
2. ��यथ� / The Respondent;
3. आयकर आयु�त(अपील) / The CIT(A)-I, Pune;
4. आयकर आयु�त / The CIT-I, Pune;
5. �वभागीय ��त�न�ध, आयकर अपील�य अ�धकरण, पुणे "ए" / DR 'A', ITAT, Pune;
6. गाड� फाईल / Guard file.
आदे शानुसार/ BY ORDER, स�या�पत ��त //True Copy // व�र�ठ �नजी स�चव / Sr. Private Secretary आयकर अपील�य अ�धकरण ,पुणे / ITAT, Pune