Larger Bench rules tax holiday not available to a contractor/executor under the Income Tax Act

This alert summarizes a recent ruling of the Larger Bench (LB) of the Mumbai Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) [2009-TIOL-692-ITAT-MUM-LB] in the case of M/s B.T. Patil & Sons Belgaum Construction Pvt. Ltd.(Taxpayer) Vs. ACIT. Due to contradictory views expressed by the two-member bench of the ITAT, an LB was constituted to examine the issue of whether the Taxpayer, who is engaged in executing construction contracts for and on behalf of the Government/statutory bodies, is eligible for tax holiday under the Indian Tax Law (ITL). The LB held that the Taxpayer was a mere contractor/executo...