ITAT Jaipur Allows Section 80JJAA, 80-IA and MEIS Claims; Disallows Delayed PF/ESI

Mayur Uniquoters Ltd. Vs CIT (ITAT Jaipur)

Summary: ITAT Jaipur considered two appeals of Mayur Uniquoters Ltd. for AYs 2018-19 and 2019-20. The assessee challenged disallowances of employees’ PF/ESI contributions of Rs. 10,38,973 and Rs. 1,77,450, claimed correction of interest under section 234C, and raised additional claims relating to education cess, deduction under section 80JJAA, deduction under section 80-IA for captive power generation, MEIS export incentives as capital receipts, and disallowance under section 14A. The Tribunal admitted the additional legal grounds, holding that a claim necessary for determining the correct tax liability could be considered when the relevant facts were already on record.

Following the Supreme Court ruling in Checkmate Services (P.) Ltd., the Tribunal held that employees’ contributions deposited after the due dates prescribed under the respective welfare enactments were not allowable, even if deposited before the due date for filing the income-tax return. The PF/ESI grounds were therefore dismissed. It accepted that interest under section 234C had to be computed with reference to the returned income and directed the Assessing Officer to verify and grant relief accordingly.

The education cess claim was rejected in view of the retrospective statutory amendment. The section 80JJAA claim was allowed after examining the regular-workman and period-of-employment conditions, with the Tribunal holding that the curative amendment applied retrospectively. Deduction under section 80-IA was allowed for captive power generation after verification of the rate and computation. MEIS incentives were held to be capital receipts because the scheme’s objective was to promote manufacturing and exports rather than compensate trading operations. The section 14A claim was also allowed because the assessee’s own interest-free funds exceeded its investments and no fresh investments had been made during the year. For AY 2019-20, the corresponding grounds and additional claim were decided consistently with the findings for AY 2018-19. Both appeals were partly allowed.