TMI Blog2020 (9) TMI 972X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is engaged in back office operations, which is prescribed as information technology enabled services in the Notification dated 26.09.2000. It is pertinent to note that the revenue itself has granted the benefit of deduction to the assessee vide order dated 27.01.2006 in respect of Assessment Year 2003-04 under Section 80HHE of the Act, which is a pari materia to Section 10A of the Act. It is well settled legal proposition that tribunal is a fact finding authority and decision on facts rendered by the tribunal can be gone into by High Court only if a question is referred to it, which says the finding is perverse [See: SANTHOSH HAZARI VS. PURUSHOTTAM TIWARI [ 2001 (2) TMI 131 - SUPREME COURT] and SOFT BRANDS (P) LTD. [ 2018 (6) TMI 1327 - KARNATAKA HIGH COURT] ] Concurrent findings of fact recorded by the revenue that assessee is entitled to benefit of deduction under Section 10A of the Act is based on meticulous appreciation of evidence on record. The aforesaid findings, by no stretch of imagination can be said to be perverse. - Decided against revenue. - I.T.A. NO.259 OF 2014 C/W I.T.A. NO.12 OF 2016 - - - Dated:- 10-9-2020 - HON BLE MR. JUSTICE ALOK ARADHE AND HON BL ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... assessee under Section 10A of the Act. 5. The assessee thereupon filed appeals before the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals). The Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) in respect of Assessment Years 2009-10 and 2010-11 by orders dated 19.12.2012 and 20.02.2015 respectively held that respondent is entitled for deduction under Section 10A of the Act in the light of notification issued by CBDT, which is applicable to the case of the assessee as the services rendered by the assessee can broadly be classified as office operations, data processing, legal databases and same can be termed as information technology enabled services. Being aggrieved, the revenue filed appeals before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as 'the Tribunal' for short). The tribunal in respect of Assessment Years 2009-10 and 2010-11 vide orders dated 03.01.2014 and 07.08.2015 inter alia held that activities of the assessee can be categorized as back office operations, data processing, legal databases or even under remote maintenance and the same can be termed as information technology enabled products or services. The tribunal therefore held that the assessee is entitled to clai ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... gy enabled product services as provided under Section 10A of the Act, Explanation 2(i)(b) of the Act. It is also pointed out that it was never the case of the Assessing Officer that assessee is not an undertaking It is also pointed out that assessee is a registered STP unit governed under Directorate of Software Technology Park and the assessee is also recognized to be 100% export oriented unit under STP scheme for IT enabled services viz., back office / remote data entry. It is also pointed out that assessee is also engaged in the transmission of electronic data i.e., patent related data from India to a place outside India as per Explanation 2 to Section 10A of the Act and is entitled to claim deduction under Notification issued by CBDT dated 26.09.2000. It is further submitted that the assessee by an order dated 27.01.2006 passed by the Assessing Officer was given the benefit of deduction under Section 80HHI of the Act for the Assessment Year 2003-04. It is further submitted that the expression computer software is wide enough to embrace diverse activities. It is also pointed out that processing of basic data for consumers on computer machines has been held to be processing of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n 10A of the Act. The aforesaid Notification specifies that information and technology enabled products or services mentioned in the Notification shall be treated as Information Technology enabled products or services for the purposes of Explanation 2(i)(b) of Section 10A of the Act, which includes Back Office Operations and Data processing as well. 10. The assessee receives back office work from the legal department of software companies in USA. The companies assign back office work of registering their technology in USA patent office. The applications are prepared, finalized and signatures are obtained in the declaration. For development of work product as patent application, US patent application contains drawings and specification. The drawings are generated using computer aided design software and specification is written using word processing software. The back office standard requires a level of control over formulation of the editing of the content of the application, which is possible only with the use of Information Technology. The activities of the assessee can be classified as Data Processing, Legal Databases and remote maintenance under the Notification issued by th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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