2010 (3) TMI 860 - HC - Income Tax

Deduction u/s 80-IA - whether initial assessment year in section 80-IA(5) would only mean the year of commencement and not the year of claim ? - Unabsorbed depreciation - Held that:- Assessee has been setting off the loss against the income of the company for the earlier years. During the assessment year, the assessee exercised the option claim of deduction under section 80-IA of the Act. But the Assessing Officer denied the exemption on the finding that loss or depreciation already allowed and set off against other sources of the income of the assessee has to be notionally carried forward and set off against the current year's income from the units for which the assessee is claiming deduction under section 80-IA. There is no dispute that during the year, there is a profit. Therefore, the assessee claimed deduction under section 80-IA and the Revenue has no authority to notionally bring forward the unabsorbed depreciation and loss of the earlier year which has been already set off as against the current year profit from the unit.

Thus the initial assessment year in this case starts from 2004-05 since the assessee has opted to claim this deduction only in this assessment year, the initial assessment year cannot be the year in which the undertaking commenced its operations and in this case, the initial assessment year is the assessment year in which assessee has chosen to claim deduction under section 80-IA. Hence, the provisions of section 80-IA(5) treating undertaking as a separate sole source of income cannot be applied to a year prior to the year in which the assessee opted to claim relief under section 80-IA for the first time. Depreciation and carry forward loss relief to the unit which claims deduction under section 80-IA, cannot be notionally carried forward and set off against the income from the year in which the assessee started claiming deduction under section 80-IA - Decided in favor of the assessee