HCL Technologies Limited Vs DCIT (ITAT Delhi)
The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) adjudicated multiple grounds raised by HCL Technologies Limited for Assessment Years 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12. The appeals involved issues relating to deduction under Section 10A, computation of export turnover, disallowance under Section 14A, ESOP expenditure, software licence fee, foreign exchange losses, creditors written back, TDS credit, dividend distribution tax, enhanced deduction claims, foreign tax credit and other consequential matters.
Section 10A deduction for separate undertakings
The Tribunal considered the assessee’s claim for deduction under Section 10A in respect of 51 undertakings registered with the Software Technology Parks authorities under 24 licences. The claim had been made in the revised return and differed from the original return, where deduction had been claimed on a combined basis. The lower authorities had rejected the enhanced claim.
The Tribunal noted that the Delhi High Court, in the assessee’s own case, had held that failure to claim the benefit in an earlier return did not create an estoppel against raising the claim subsequently. Following that decision, the Tribunal remitted the matter to the Assessing Officer (AO) to verify whether the 51 units constituted separate undertakings for the purposes of Section 10A and to decide the claim in accordance with law after providing reasonable opportunity to the assessee. The issue was allowed for statistical purposes.
