bad debts

The assessee made a provision for bad debts by debiting the P & L A/c and crediting the Provision for Bad debts A/c. Thereafter, the provision account was debited and the loans and advances a/c was credited. The AO denied the claim for bad debts u/s 36(1)(vii) on the ground that the individual account of the debtor had not been written off. Full Article

In a recent ruling Supreme Court in the case of TRF Ltd. on the issue of whether a taxpayer, while claiming deduction of bad debts in its return of income, is required to establish that the debts have, in fact, become irrecoverable. The SC held that post the amendment to Section 36(1)(vii) (Section) of the Indian Tax Law (ITL), for claiming deduction of bad debts, it is sufficient that the debt is written off in the books of account as bad debt. It is not necessary for t.. Full Article

For claiming any debt as a bad debt, one has to satisfy following two conditions :(1) Debt is written off as bad debt in the Profit and Loss Account by making corresponding entry in the party account. (2) Debt is taken in to account in computing the income of the assessee of the previous year in which debt is written off or in earlier previous year. Full Article

The assessee wrote off an amount as a “bad debt” in its accounts and claimed a deduction u/s 36 (1) (vii). The AO asked the assessee to furnish information as to the names and addresses of the debtors, copies of ledger accounts and efforts made to realize these dues. On failure by the assessee to furnish the information, the claim was disallowed on the ground that the onus to prove that the debt was a bad debt was on the assessee which had not been discharged. Full Article

The assessee, a share broker, purchased shares on behalf of its client and paid for them. The brokerage on the said transaction was offered to tax. As the client did not pay for the shares, the assessee wrote off the amount due and claimed the same as a bad debt u/s 36 (1) (vii). The AO rejected the claim on the ground that as the said “debt” had not “been taken into account in computing the income”, Full Article

INSTRUCTION NO. 17/2008, DATED 26-11-2008 In a recent review of assessment of Banks carried out by C&AG, it has been observed that white computing the income of banks under the head 'Profit and Gains of Business & Profession', deductions of large amounts under different sections are being allowed by the Assessing Officers without proper verification, leading to substantial loss of revenue. It is, therefore, necessary that assessments in the cases of banks are completed w.. Full Article

TILL a few months back, it used to be a rare event in which the Delhi High Court used to impose costs on the Income Tax Department. And this is what perhaps encouraged the Revenue to keep filing appeals indiscriminately and virtually in all cases. But such a cosy run has evidently run out of luck now. So much exasperated is the High Court over the Department's thick-skinned approach to curb frivolous appeals that it can now be seen imposing costs in most of the cases. An.. Full Article