9911796707
TMI Blog2003 (4) TMI 65X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a Development Officer in the Life Insurance Corporation of India. He received incentive bonus from his employer and on the said sum he claimed 40 per cent. deduction in his return filed for the assessment year 1994-95. The Assessing Officer disallowed the deduction of the amount on the incentive bonus received by the assessee as it formed a part of salary and, hence, no such deduction was allowable. Being of this view he made prima facie adjustment and disallowed the claim while processing the return of the income under section 143(1)(a) of the Act. Being aggrieved by the aforesaid order the respondent-assessee preferred an appeal before the Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals), Jabalpur, who allowed the appeal and set aside the order of t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nsel appearing for the respondent, on the contrary, submitted that the controversy has not been put to rest and indubitably it is a contentious one and this is reflected and projected by the views expressed by various High Courts. It is urged by him, the matter would have been different had there been a judgment of the apex court on this count. It is also highlighted by Mr. Modh that the deduction was allowed in the earlier years and, therefore, it can be irrefragably said that the issue that emerged is in the compartment of a debatable one. In view of the submissions put forth at the Bar, the singular question that arises for adjudication is whether the issue before the Assessing Officer was debatable in nature or whether he could have pr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e basis of the information available in such return, accounts or documents, is prima facie inadmissible, shall be disallowed: Provided further that an intimation shall be sent to the assessee whether or not any adjustment has been made under the first proviso and notwithstanding that no tax or interest is due from him: Provided also that an intimation under this clause shall not be sent after the expiry of two years from the end of the assessment year in which the income was first assessable." On a plain reading of the aforesaid provision it is clear as noon day that if, on the basis of the return filed by the assessee any tax or interest is found out after adjustment, an intimation shall be sent to the assessee. The scope of the aforesa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e disallowable. If the claim is made by the assessee is treated not to be free from debate and argument it is bound to be regarded as a debatable issue. It is not disputed before us that there are divergent views of the High Courts. In this context, we may note that the High Court of Gujarat in the case of Chimanbhai H. Patel v. CIT [1999] 235 ITR 635 and the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir in the case of R.K. Salhotra v. ITO [2002] 125 Taxman 624 held that the allowance under the claim of deduction on incentive bonus is allowable. Other High Courts have taken a different view. Thus, there is an expression of divergent views by the High Courts. Quite apart from the above, for earlier years the appeals were allowed. In view of the aforesai ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
