Case Law Details
Brief of the case
ITAT Chennai in the case of Annam Software Pvt. Ltd. vs. CIT held that Exemption cannot be denied merely for claiming the exemption under section 10B instead of Section 10A. Tribunal remanded matter back to A.O. to consider the case on merits.
Facts of the case
- The assessee filed return of income , claiming deduction under section 10B of the Act.
- The A.O. denied assesse’s claim taking a view that , since the assessee is only 100% export oriented unit setup under STPI scheme and not approved by the Board appointed in this behalf by the Central Government in exercise of powers conferred by section 14 of Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951, assesse cannot be entitled for deduction u/s 10B.
- Further, during the relevant year, the assessee claimed deduction under section 10A and filed report in Form 56F as required under section 10A of the Act.
Contention of Assesee
During assessment year assessee filed form No.56F claiming deduction under section 10A but it was wrongly mentioned in the return that claim was made under section 10B of the Act.
HELD BY CIT (A)
The Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) held that assessee was not entitled to claim relief under section 10A only on the technical ground that the claim had been made under section 10B in the return of income for the assessment year under consideration and not under section 10A in respect of its profit derived from its 100% EOU from export of computer software registered with STPI. Therefore, he upheld AO’s order.
Held by ITAT
Respectfully following decision of Madras High Court in the case of CIT Vs. Heartland KG Information ,wherein it was held that even though the assessee originally claimed relief under section 10B, it was cautious enough to make an alternative plea under section 10A in view of the fact that the assessee’s vendor had the benefit under section 10A . In any event, even assuming for a moment, the assessee had not referred to the section correctly, the fact remained that if the claim could be favourably considered under any of those special deduction provisions and on the conditions specified therein being satisfied, there did not exist any justifiable ground for the Revenue to contend that the assessee shall not be entitled to have the benefit of section 10A. The assessee was entitled to exemption under section 10A . Thus, the matter was remitted back to the file of Assessing Officer with a direction to consider the claim of the assessee under section 10A after examining the allowability of the claim afresh in accordance with law.
