Section 10(23AAB) of the Income Tax Act
Income-tax Act, 2025: s.11
Section 10(23AAB) falls under section 10 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, which corresponds to section 11 (Incomes not included in total income) of the Income-tax Act, 2025.
Read section 11 of the 2025 Act
Correspondence checked against the ICAI tabular mapping of the two Acts and the BharatTax.co section commentary.
The decision most relied on for Section 10(23AAB) is LIC of India v. CIT (51 ITR 773), cited in 64 of the 65 judgments on BharatTax that turn on this section.
Leading authorities on Section 10(23AAB)
The assessment of profits for an insurance business is exclusively governed by the specific rules prescribed in the First Schedule to the Income Tax Act and Section 44, thereby precluding the Assessing Officer from applying general computation provisions, such as sections 28 to 43B, disallowances under Section 14A, or making adjustments outside these specific statutory rules.
Section 14A of the Income-tax Act is not applicable to insurance businesses governed by specific provisions of Section 44 and Schedule 1. Profit on sale of investments by insurance companies is not taxable, especially after the deletion of sub-rule (b) of Rule 5 of the First Schedule.
The Assessing Officer's power to make adjustments is restricted, particularly concerning actuarial valuations, and this power is bound by principles laid down by the Supreme Court.
The income earned on the shareholders' account in a life insurance business is to be considered as arising out of the life insurance business and not as income from other sources, especially when it is arrived at by combining surplus from both shareholders' and policyholders' accounts.
Income from a fund exempted under section 10(23AAB) is eligible for consideration, and losses from such a pension fund are allowable claims when determining the actuarial valuation surplus under section 44.
Exemption under Section 10 is allowable even when income is computed under Section 44 of the IT Act. This applies to specific exempt incomes like those under Section 10(23AAB) for pension business and Section 10(34) for dividends, even if the AO considers them part of the life insurance business income.
