Income Tax Appellate Tribunal provides succor to a Chennai bank

Income Tax Appellate Tribunal provides succor to a Chennai bank

Karur Vysya Bank allowed Income Tax deduction on education cess

In a major relief to the Karur Vysya Bank, the Chennai bench of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has allowed the bank a deduction in the education cess.

The appellant, a private sector bank, had filed its Income Tax Return (ITR) for the Assessment Year 2013-14. The return was, subsequently, revised. The issue pertained to the deductibility of education cess and secondary and higher education cess.

The assesse filed a petition for admission and argued that the issue highlighted in the petition was purely legal and could be raised at any stage of proceedings including appellate proceedings before the Tribunal.

On the other hand, the revenue department strongly opposed the petition. It claimed that the assesse had failed to prove the fact of all relevant materials available before the assessing officer (AO).

Citing an earlier decision by the Bombay High Court, ITAT said that it was a fact that the assesse had taken the issue for the first time by filing an additional ground and the said claim was not before the AO at the time of the assessment proceedings. Therefore, the issue needed to go back to the file of the AO, who was directed to reconsider the issue in accordance with the law.