Parveen Batra Vs ACIT (ITAT Delhi)
Visa & Foreign Travel Paid by Sons Allowed as Business Expense; ITAT Grants Relief Despite Minor Delay
Assessee, engaged in overseas education consultancy, faced disallowance of ₹15.61 lakh towards travelling & visa expenses on the ground that expenses were incurred abroad & paid by her sons. NFAC also dismissed the appeal for non-condonation of a minor delay of five days.
Tribunal held that procedural delay should not defeat substantive justice & proceeded to adjudicate on merits. ITAT observed that travelling & visa expenses were incurred wholly & exclusively for business purposes to recruit students for foreign universities & mere fact that payments were initially made by sons residing abroad does not render expenditure non-business, especially when assessee subsequently settled the amounts. Accordingly, disallowance of travelling & visa expenses was deleted, while interest on delayed TDS was rightly disallowed. Appeal partly allowed.
FULL TEXT OF THE ORDER OF ITAT DELHI
1. The assessee has filed appeal against the order of the Learned Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals)/National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC), Delhi [“Ld. CIT(A)”, for short] dated 04.03.2025 for the Assessment Year 2020-21 raising following grounds of appeal :-
“1. That under the facts and circumstances of the case the Ld. CIT (Appeals), NFAC has erred in law and facts in not condoning the delay. Kindly condone the delay and treat the appeal as a valid appeal.
2. That under the facts and circumstances of the case the Ld. CIT (Appeals), NFAC has erred in law and facts in confirming the disallowance of expenses by Ld. A.O. amounting to Rs.79,400/-. Kindly direct to delete the addition.
3. That under the facts and circumstances of the case the Ld. CIT (Appeals), NFAC has erred in law and facts in confirming the disallowance of Travelling and Visa expenses by Ld. A.O. amounting to Rs.15,61,773/-. Kindly direct to delete the addition.”
2. At the time of hearing, with reference to ground no.1, ld. AR of the assessee submitted that ld. CIT (A) has not condoned the delay of 5 days and dismissed the ground raised by the assessee and other grounds raised by the assessee are allowable as business expenditure and he brought to our notice the relevant facts as under.
