Vedanta Ltd. Vs. ACIT (ITAT Delhi)
Summary: The Delhi Bench “F” of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal considered the assessee’s appeal against the order dated 12.04.2019 passed by the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals)-9, New Delhi, for Assessment Year 2013-14. The principal issue was the assessee’s claim for refund of Rs. 11,22,14,052, described in the grounds as excess Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT). The CIT(A) had rejected the claim, allegedly on the ground that there was no provision under the Income-tax Act, 1961 to grant such refund.
The assessee contended that the claim was legitimate and had been made in the return of income after considering credit of dividends received from subsidiaries under Section 115-O(1A) of the Act, which subsidiaries were subsequently merged with the assessee. It further contended that DDT constituted additional income tax paid by the assessee and that refund of the excess amount could be claimed under Section 237 of the Act. The assessee also disputed the CIT(A)’s observation that it had failed to establish that the Scheme of Amalgamation permitted refund of DDT actually paid by the amalgamating subsidiaries, stating that it had claimed credit of dividends received from the subsidiaries, resulting in excess DDT paid by the assessee itself.
