16. Amendment of section 44AE.
In section 44AE of the Income-tax Act, with effect from the 1st day of April, 2019,-
(a) for sub-section (2), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely:––
“(2) For the purposes of sub-section (1), the profits and gains from each goods carriage,-
(i) being a heavy goods vehicle, shall be an amount equal to one thousand rupees per ton of gross vehicle weight or unladen weight, as the case may be, for every month or part of a month during which the heavy goods vehicle is owned by the assessee in the previous year or an amount claimed to have been actually earned from such vehicle, whichever is higher;
(ii) other than heavy goods vehicle, shall be an amount equal to seven thousand five hundred rupees for every month or part of a month during which the goods carriage is owned by the assessee in the previous year or an amount claimed to have been actually earned from such goods carriage, whichever is higher.”;
(b) in the Explanation, for clause (a), the following clauses shall be substituted, namely:––
‘(a) the expressions “goods carriage”, “gross vehicle weight” and “unladen weight” shall have the respective meanings assigned to them in section 2 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (59 of 1988);
(aa) the expression “heavy goods vehicle” means any goods carriage, the gross vehicle weight of which exceeds 12000 kilograms;’.
Notes on Clauses:
Clause 16 of the Bill seeks to amend section 44AE of the Income-tax Act relating to special provision for computing profits and gains of business of plying, hiring or leasing goods carriages.
Sub-section (2) of the said section, inter alia, provides that for the purpose of computing profits and gains of business of plying, hiring or leasing goods carriages an amount equal to seven thousand five hundred rupees for every month or part of a month or an amount claimed to be actually earned by the assessee, whichever is higher, shall be deemed to be the aggregate income.
It is proposed to substitute the said sub-section so as to provide that for a heavy goods vehicle, the profits and gains shall be an amount equal to one thousand rupees per ton of gross vehicle weight or unladen weight, as the case may be, for every month or part of a month during which the heavy goods vehicle is owned by the assessee in the previous year or an amount claimed to have been actually earned from such vehicle, whichever is higher.
It is further proposed to provide that in the case of a goods carriage other than heavy vehicle, the profits and gains shall be an amount equal to seven thousand five hundred rupees for every month or part of a month during which the goods carriage is owned by the assessee in the previous year or an amount claimed to have been actually earned from such goods carriage, whichever is higher.
It is also proposed to define the expressions “goods carriage”, "gross vehicle weight", "heavy goods vehicle"and"unladen weight" in the said section.
These amendments will take effect from 1st April, 2019 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to the assessment year 2019-2020 and subsequent years.
