Deputy Commissioner Of Income Tax vs Glaxo Smithkline Consumer Healthcare ... on 20 July, 2007
The Madras High Court in the case of Chemicals & Plastics (India) Ltd. v. CIT (supra) followed the decision of Bombay High Court in the case of Bharat Petroleum Ltd. (supra) while examining the case where the assessee has not charged the duty paid by it to the P&L a/c but at the same time claimed the deduction under Section 43B. The assessee in that case did not claim the item in the P&L a/c for the reason that a part of the customs duty paid was in respect of raw materials which remained with the assessee at the end of the year. In all the above three cases, the facts considered by the High Courts are marginally different from the facts of the present case. In those cases, the Courts were examining the nature of excise duty and customs duty paid by the assessees, but embedded in the stock of goods not consumed and/or cleared. In the present case, the issue is that of advance payment of excise duty, per se. The Courts while examining the issues before them in those cases, have in fact examined the law on the subject in its entire perspective and have clearly held that advance payments of excise duty are deductible under Section 43B.