Section 73 of the Income Tax Act
Income-tax Act, 2025: s.113
Section 73 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 corresponds to section 113 (Set off and carry forward of losses computed in respect of speculation business) of the Income-tax Act, 2025.
Read section 113 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 73 is 3. CIT v. ASHOK KUMAR SONI (262 ITR 633), cited in 101 of the 521 judgments on BharatTax that turn on this section.
Leading authorities on Section 73
This case is cited for the proposition that oral admissions made during the course of a search can be considered as evidence.
Loss incurred by certain types of companies in trading derivatives is considered speculative loss under the Explanation to Section 73, as the value of stock derivatives depends on shares. Such speculative losses are ineligible for set-off or carry forward against business income.
The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal is the final fact-finding authority. A High Court can only interfere with the Tribunal's factual findings if a specific question alleging perversity of such findings, in the sense that they could not have been reasonably arrived at, has been referred to it.
Income from a deferred VAT rebate granted by a state government for sales tax incentives is not considered income derived from an industrial undertaking and is therefore not eligible for deduction under Section 80IC.
A company involved in the purchase and sale of shares is deemed to be carrying on a speculative business to the extent of such transactions, unless it falls under an exception to Section 73 of the Income Tax Act.
Losses arising from the sale of investments made for business purposes are treated as business losses, not capital losses.
Interest earned by a company on share application money deposited in banks is taxable as income from other sources, even if the funds are intended for the business.
The Supreme Court held that losses from delivery-based share trading cannot be set off against profits from derivatives trading if the principal business of the assessee is not the granting of loans and advances, as per the explanation to Section 73.
After April 1, 1989, it is sufficient to write off a debt as irrecoverable in the books to claim a bad debt deduction; it is not necessary to establish that the debt has become irrecoverable.
