VIACOM 18 MEDIA PRIVATE LIMITED ,MUMBAI vs. ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX 16(1), MUMBAI

failed to appreciate that any refund received shall first be adjusted towards the interest receivable by the Appellant and thereafter, the balance, shall be adjusted against the principal amount of refund.” Brief facts of the case are as under: 2. The assessee is filed its return of income on 29/11/2012, which has been revised on 27/11/2013, declaring total loss under normal provisions at Rs.35,86,04,360. The return of income was scrutinized u/s. 143(3) of the Act and draft assessment order was passed on dated 16/-3/2016. The assessee filed objections against the draft assessment order before DRP and DRP disposed the objections vide its directions dated 7/11/2016. The Ld.AO passed final assessment order after considering directions given by DRP on 31/01/2017, assessing total loss at Rs.21,12,96,810. 2.1 The aforesaid final assessment order was challenged by the assessee before thisTribunal. This Tribunal vide order dated 3/09/2021, allowed relief to the assessee amounting to Rs. 14,73,07,055/-. It is submitted that this Tribunal did not remand back any issue to the file of the Ld.AO. 2.2. The Ld.AO passed the OGE to the order of this Tribunalvide order dated 6/12/2023. The order was serviced to assessee online on portal only on 22/06/2024. It is submitted that in the OGEthe loss was computed at Rs.35,86,04,360/- which is same as declared by assessee in its revised return of income and computed refund at Rs. 92,45,530/-. Aggrieved by the order of the Ld.AO assessee preferred appeal before the Ld.CIT(A).

Before the Ld.CIT(A) the assessee contented that while passing the OGE, the assessing officer wrongly calculated interest u/s.244A of the Act,though the entire TDS credit was given. 3.1. Another issue raised by the assessee before the Ld.CIT(A) was in respect of additional interest u/s.244A(1A) of the Act, which was not granted to the assessee. 3.2. The assessee submitted that, in the instant case the OGE should have been granted by 31/03/2022 i.e., within 3 months from the date of receipt of the order passed by this Tribunal, as per section 153(5) of the Act. It was submitted that, the Ld.AO passed the OGE on 22/06/2024 which is inadvertently dated 06/12/2023. The assessee submitted that, it was entitled to additional interest u/s.244(1A) of the Act, for period of 814 of days from the end of the time line u/s.153(5) till the date of grant of such refund. 3.3.The Ld. CIT(A) while adjudicating both the issues, allowed the claim of assessee only to on the additional interest u/s.244A(1)(a) of the Act. Aggrieved by the order of the Ld.CIT(A) the assessee is in appeal before this Tribunal. 4. The Ld.AR at the outset submitted that, the only issue that is to be considered is in respect of the method adopted by the Ld.AO to compute the interest u/s.244A of the Act. 4.1. The Ld.AR submitted that, assessing officer incorrectly computed the interest by first adjusting the amount of refund already granted towards the principle, and thereafter if any outstanding was adjusted towards the interest.It is submitted

1. In the decision relied by the Ld.AR in case of Tata Sons Pvt.Ltd. (supra) on identical issue this Tribunal observed as under: “8.The ratio laid down is that the amount of interest u/s. 244A is to be calculated by first adjusting the amount of Tefund already granted towards the interest component and balance left if any shall be adjusted towards thetax component. Therefore we hold that the manner in which the assessing officer has adjusted the refund is not correct and that the assessee would be entitled for interest on the unpaid refunds in accordance with the principle laid out in the aforesaid decision of Tribunal. The Id AR during the course of hearing submitted a detailed working of the manner in which the AO has calculated the interest and also the correct way in which the same is to be calculated (page 23 and 24 of paper book) Accordingly the assessing officer is 6 ITA No.1002/Mum/2025; A.Y. 2012-13 Viacom 18 Media Private Limited directed to compute interest under section 244A as per the claim of the assessee after giving a proper opportunity of being heard. 9. On the issue of grant of refund till the date of issue of refund, the Id AR submitted that the issue is squarely covered in favour of the assessee vide the decisions of Hon'ble Bombay High Court in case of CIT v. Pfizer Ltd. [1991] 191 ITR 626 and also of City bank NA v. CIT [IT Appeal No. 6 of 2001] as well as the decision of CIT v. K.E.C International [IT Appeal No. 1038 of 2000). Respectfully following the aforesaid precedents, in our considered view, the assessee is justified in seeking interest u/s 244A of the Act upto the date of receipt of the refund order, ie. 18-8-2022. Accordingly the AO is directed to re- calculate the interest up to the date of actual receipt of refund by the assessee. It is ordered accordingly.”

2. Thus it thus clear that, the amount of interest u/s.244A is to be calculated by first adjusting the amount of refund already granted towards the interest component and the balance left,if any shall be adjusted towards the tax component.We therefore do not support the computation mechanism adopted by the Ld.AO. The assessee at the time of hearing filed a chart showing the computation difference as per the OGE and as per the assessee, which is enclosed here with Annexure A. 5.3. The Ld.AO is directed to verify the computation of the assessee in the chart having regards to the documents in support and to compute the interest u/s.244A, in accordance with law based on the discussion here in above. 6. As consequence of the above computation, the additional interest u/s.244A(1A) of the Act willalso under go change. The Ld.AO is directed to compute the interest u/s.244A(1A) of the Act in accordance with law. Accordingly the grounds raised by the assessee stands allowed for statistical purposes.