ACC LTD.,MUMBAI vs. DCIT(LTU) - 1, MUMBAI

The above appeals were pronounced vide separate orders for each assessment year i.e. A.Y. 2006-07, 2009-10 & 2010-11 on 28.02.2023 and upon forwarding files and orders to the order section by the Senior Private Secretary on 08.03.2023, we observe certain mistake apparent on record, we are rectifying those mistake by passing this corrigendum suo motto as under: - Page AY Remarks No. 2006-07 Additional ground on 43B liability not adjudicated. 2009-10 103 Para. No 94 - Provision for leave encashment allowed based on 115JB reference. Wrongly quoted order for AY 2004-05 instead of A.Y.2008- 09 order and it's relevant reference. 2010-11 106-108 Para No. 95 & 96 - Ground no. 7 of Assessee's appeal related to education cess which was not pressed by Assessee, however wrongly adjudicated and partly allowed. 119 Para. No 113 - Ground no 12 of Assessee's appeal related disallowance u/s 14A adjudicated by giving reference of exclusion of amount transfer to debenture redemption reserve. (A.Y: 2006-07)

Assessee has raised additional ground for the A.Y.2006-07 which was not adjudicated on oversight, accordingly, we proceed to dispose of this ground by way of this corrigendum. In the additional ground the assessee has raised ground that outstanding BIS Marking fees of ₹.477,161/-, which was disallowed u/s 43B in A.Y.2005-06, it was prayed that this payment was made subsequently in the current assessment year and the assessee failed to claim the same in the return of Income. It was submitted that the assessee is entitled to raise the genuine and legal issue

Considered the rival submissions and material placed on record. It was submitted that the assessee made the payment to BIS Marking in the current assessment year and the same is eligible to claim as business expenditure. After considering the submissions, we are inclined to remit this issue back to the file of Assessing Officer to verify the claim of the assessee and allow the same on the payment basis as per law. Therefore, this additional ground raised by the assessee is allowed for statistical purpose. (A.Y: 2009-10)

At Para No. 94, we dealt with the issue of Leave Encashment allowance u/s 115JB, we observe that the similar issue was considered by us in the A.Y.2008-09 in Ground No 13 and instead of reproducing the decision, we have wrongly reproduced the findings given in the A.Y.2005- 06. The more relevant facts for this ground is from Ground No.13 of A.Y. 2008-09. Therefore, we are hereby reproducing the above in the corrigendum for this Assessment Year as under:

At Para Nos. 94, 95 & 96 we have adjudicated the ground raised by the assessee with regard to disallowance of education cess in Ground No.7 and partly allowed the ground raised by the assessee. However, on a perusal of the note sheet and chart submitted by the assessee, we observed that this ground was not pressed by the assessee. The same deserves to be dismissed. Accordingly, we are modifying the decision in the Para No. 96 in fact we are modifying the Para 95 and 96 as under:

We have perused the decision of this Court in Reliance Utilities & Power Ltd. (supra) wherein it has been held that if there are funds available with the assessee, both, interest-free and overdraft and/ or loans taken, then a presumption would arise that investments would be out of the interest-free funds generated or available with the assessee if the interest-free funds were sufficient to meet the investments. In the facts of that case, it was noted that the said presumption was established considering the finding of fact returned by the first appellate 6 (A.Y: 2006-07) ITA NO.3135/MUM/2019 (A.Y: 2009-10) ITA NO.3137/MUM/2019 (A.Y: 2010-11) M/s. ACC Limited authority as affirmed by the Tribunal which is identical in the present case. 7.1 We also note that the said decision of this Court has been affirmed by the Supreme Court in CIT v. Reliance Industries Ltd. [2019] 102 taxmann.com 52/261 Taxman 165/410 ITR 466.”

The above referred decision has been followed by co-ordinate Bench in the case of DCIT v. Shree Global Tradef in Ltd. in ITA No. 1374/Mum/2022 dated 22nd December, 2022 has held as under: “11. Having heard the rival submissions and perused the materials available on record. It is observed that the assessee has made a suo moto disallowance of Rs.1,263/- for which the assessee contends that the A.O. ought not to have applied Rule 8D on the ground that suo moto disallowance has been made by the assessee. The assessee further contends that without prejudice, the disallowance should be restricted only to the investments which have yielded an exempt income for the assessee during the impugned year. It is also pertinent to point out that since the assessee had not borrowed funds during the relevant year, no disallowance as per Rule 8D(2)(i) of the Income Tax Rules was warranted. It is also observed that the A.O. has recorded his satisfaction that the correctness of the assessee's claim of expenses of disallowance was not to the satisfaction of the A.O., thereby entitling the A.O. to invoke the provisions of Rule 8D and the decision of the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Maxopp Investment Ltd. (supra) holds good in the present case. We are also of the considered opinion that the ld. CIT(A) has rightly held that the assessee has not made bifurcation of the expenses claimed under 'other expenses' and in case of which the A.O. had to invoke Rule 8D of the Income Tax Rules. The suo moto disallowance of the assessee does not disentitle the A.O. from invoking the said provision. In this regard, we find justification in the order of the ld. CIT(A) in upholding the A.O.'s action in invoking the provision of Rule 8D(2)(ii) by rejecting the assessee's contention that suo moto disallowance by the assessee warrants no further disallowances. The assessee's alternate claim is that the disallowance u/s. 14A read with Rule 8D(2)(iii) should be restricted only to those investments on which exempt income was earned by the assessee during the impugned year, by placing reliance on the decision of Vireet Investments Pvt. Ltd.

By respectfully following the above mentioned decisions, we uphold the order of the ld. CIT(A) in directing the A.O. to recompute the disallowance only to the investments which have yielded exempt income during the impugned year.”

Considering the finding given by Coordinate Bench, the Assessing Officer is directed to re-work disallowance u/s.14A under rule 8D(2)(iii) on investment which has yielded exempt income and consider only those investments which yielded the exempt income. The assessee gets the relief accordingly. This ground of appeal is partly allowed.”