Dana Anand India Pvt. Ltd. Vs DCIT (ITAT Pune)
The appeal before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Pune arose from a final assessment order passed under sections 143(3) read with 144C(13) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 for assessment year 2020–21. The assessee had filed its original and revised returns declaring total income of ₹164.60 crore and ₹167.30 crore respectively. Although the Transfer Pricing Officer proposed no adjustment, the Assessing Officer initially made significant variations, which were later largely deleted by the Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP). The final assessed income was determined at ₹174.32 crore after certain additions, some of which were later partly rectified under section 154.
The first issue concerned disallowance of deduction under section 80G amounting to ₹1.57 crore relating to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) expenditure. The assessee had already disallowed the CSR amount while computing business income under section 37 but claimed deduction under section 80G at the stage of computing total income. The Assessing Officer and DRP denied the claim. The Tribunal followed binding coordinate bench decisions, including earlier Pune Bench rulings, holding that disallowance under section 37 does not bar deduction under section 80G if statutory conditions are satisfied. The Tribunal held that CSR donations to eligible institutions remain deductible under section 80G and directed the Assessing Officer to allow the deduction.
