M/S. EAST INDIA PHARMACEUTICAL WORKS LTD. vs. COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX. WEST BENGAL

http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 1 of 5 PETITIONER: M/S. EAST INDIA PHARMACEUTICAL WORKS LTD. Vs. RESPONDENT: COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX. WEST BENGAL DATE OF JUDGMENT: 11/03/1997 BENCH: S.C. AGRAWAL, G.B. PATTANAIK ACT: HEADNOTE: JUDGMENT: J U D G M E N T PATTANAIK, J. This appeal by grant of certificate under Section 261 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) by the High Court of Calcutta is directed against the judgment and order of the Calcutta High Court dated 21.4.1978 in Tax Reference No. 404/75. On an application being filed before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal Section 256(1) of the Act the Tribunal referred the following question for being answered by the High Court :- "Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was right in holding that the payment of interest of Rs. 28,488/- on money borrowed for payment of income-tax was not an expenditure laid out wholly and exclusively for the purpose of business as contemplated by sub- section (1) of Section 37 of the Income-tax Act, 1961?" The assessee is a company having an over draft account with a Bank. During the assessment year 1972-73 the assessee claimed a sum of rupees 28.488/- as an allowable expenditure under Section 37(1) of the Act, the said amount representing the interest which the assessee had to pay on the over-draft amount, the said over-draft having been made for the payment of income tax. The Income Tax Officer dis-allowed the aforesaid deduction claimed by the assessee as he was of the opinion that the payment of income tax cannot be held to be the payment for the purpose assessee preferred an appeal and the Appellate Authority agreeing with the assessing officer came to hold that the over-draft utilised for payment of tax cannot he said to be for the business purposes of the company. In coming to the aforesaid conclusion the Appellate Authority relied upon the decision of the Calcutta High Court in the case of Mannalal Ratanlal Vs. Commissioner of Income-Tax, 58 I.T.R. 182. The assessee the carried the matter in second appeal before the Tribunal. Before the Tribunal it was contended by the assessee that the tax http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 2 of 5 liability being to the tune of couple of lakhs. If the said liability would not have been discharged then the entire business of the assessee would have been crippled and, therefore, discharge of such liability from the over-draft account would be held to be an expense for business purpose. The Tribunal, however, relying upon the decisions of the Calcutta High Court in Mannalal Ratanlal Vs. Commissioner of Income Tax, 58 I.T.R. 182 and commissioner of Income-Tax Vs. Calcutta Landing & Shipping co. Ltd. 77 I.T.R. 575, come to hold that the interest on money borrowed for payment of tax cannot be considered to be an allowable deduction in computing business profits. Having dismissed the assessee’s second appeal the Tribunal on an application being made referred the question for being answered by the High court, as already stated. The High Court of Calcutta by the impugned of tax cannot be said to be for the business purpose of the company. In coming to the aforesaid conclusion the Appellate Authority relied upon the decision of the Calcutta High Court in the case of Mannalal Ratanlal Vs. Commissioner of Income-Tax, 58 I.T.R. 182. The assesses then carried the matter in second appeal before the Tribunal. Before the Tribunal it was contended by the assessee that the tax liability being to the tune of couple of lakhs, if the said liability would not have been discharged then the entire business of the assessee would have been crippled and, therefore, discharge of such liability form the over-draft account would be held to be an expense for business purpose. The Tribunal, however, relying upon the decisions of the Calcutta High Court in Mannalal Ratanlal Vs. Commissioner of Income Tax. 58 I.T.R. 182 and Commissioner of Income Tax Vs. Calcutta Landing & Shipping Co. Ltd. 77 I.T.R. 575, came to hold that the interest on money borrowed for payment of tax cannot be considered to be an allowable deduction in computing business profits. having dismissed the assessee’s second appeal the Tribunal on an application being made referred the question for being answered by the High Court, as already stated. The High Court of Calcutta by the impugned judgment came to the conclusion that an expenditure cannot be allowed as a business expenditure under Section 37(1) of the Act unless it was incurred or laid out directly or indirectly by an assessee wholly and exclusively for the purpose of his business. It also came to the conclusion that the payment of Income-tax will not fall within the scope of expression "for the purpose of business". Relying upon the judgment of this Court in Birla cotton Spinning & Weaving Mills Ltd. 82 ITR 166. it came to hold that the amount paid as income-tax is not an expenditure, not even a business expenditure and, therefore, the interest paid by a treader on the money borrowed for the payment of income-tax cannot be held to be a business expenditure on any commercial principle, not even on the ground of commercial expediency. It also further held that the payment of income-tax or the interest on the borrowed money for the payment of income-tax is not at all related with the purpose and object of the business and no element of trade in its commercial sense is involved in it. With this conclusion the High Court answered the question posed in the affirmative and in favour of the Revenue and against the assessee and thus this appeal. Mr. Deepak Bhattacharyya, learned counsel appearing for the appellant argued with vehemence that the assessee having deposited the entire profits in the over-draft account and the amount thus deposited in the over-draft account being much more compared to the income-tax liability and the tax paid, it should have been presumed that in http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 3 of 5 essence and true character the taxes were paid out of the profits of the relevant year and not out of the over-draft account for the running of the business. Consequently the interest paid by the assessee on the over-draft account relatable to the payment of income-tax should have been allowed as an admissible deduction in the commutation of the assessee’s business income. In support of this contention the learned counsel appearing for the appellant relied upon the decisions of the Calcutta High Court in Woolcombers of India Ltd. Vs. Commissioner of Income-Tax (Central), Calcutta 134 ITR 219, Reckitt and Colman of India Ltd. Vs. Commissioner of Income Tax. 135 ITR 698. Indian Explosive Ltd Vs. Commissioner of Income Tax, West Bengal-II, Calcutta 147 ITR 392, and Alkali & Chemical Corporation of India Ltd. Vs. Commissioner of Income Tax 161 ITR 820. The learned counsel also urged that these decision having been allowed to be operative for more than 14 years, the principle of stare decisis should be made applicable and, therefore. it must be held that the High Court committed error in not accepting the assesse’s contention. The learned counsel also placed before us a schedule appended to the assessment order to indicate that the amount of receipts deposited in the over-draft account was much more compared to the tax that the said payment of raising the presumption that the said payment was out of the profits, in the light of the observations made by the Calcutta High Court in four decisions referred to supra, the learned counsel appearing for the Revenue on the other hand contended for the assessee had infact not been raised either before the High Court or before the Tribunal and, as such this question never arose out of the order for the Revenue the question referred to by the Tribunal to the High Court under Section 256(1) of the Act was merely relatable to an interpretation of Section 37(1) of the Act and whether the interest paid on the money borrowed for payment of income-tax can be held to be an expenditure allowable in computing the income-tax can be held to be an expenditure allowable in computing the income- tax under Section 37(1) of the Act. The learned counsel further urged that in view of the decision of this Court in the case of Madhav Prasad Jatia Vs. Commissioner of Income Tax, U.P., Lucknow 1979 (3) SCR 745 as well as the decision of this Court in the case of Smt. Padmavati Jaikrishna Vs. Addl. Commissioner of Income-tax, Gujarat 166 ITR 176 no deduction can be claimed by an assessee in respect of the interest on borrowed capital made for discharge of the income-tax liability. According to the learned counsel the liability for payment of income-tax is a personal on e and payment thereof is not to earn income but to meet the statutory liability and, therefore, the expenditure thus incurred cannot be held to be wholly and exclusively for the purpose of earning income within the ambit of Section 57(iii) of the Act. Having considered the rival submissions at the bar though we find considerable force in the arguments advanced by the learned counsel appearing for the appellant but in the facts and circumstances of the present case, on going through the order of the Tribunal as well as the question referred to by the Tribunal for being answered by the High Court and the arguments advanced before the Tribunal as well as in the High Court by the counsel appearing for the assessee, it is not possible for us to hold that any such contention, as was advanced before this court by the assessee had in fact been advanced either before the Tribunal or before the High Court. The question whether the presumption can be drawn that the taxes were paid out of the http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 4 of 5 profits of the relevant year and not out of the over-draft account for the running of the business as was drawn in Woolcombers’s case (supra) by the Calcutta High Court and was followed in 3 other cases of the same High Court, would essentially depend upon the fact as to whether the entire profits had been pumped into the over-draft account, whether such profits were more than the tax amount paid for the relevant year and all other germane factors. But when the assessee never advanced the contention either before the Tribunal or before the High Court does not bring within its seep the contention as is advanced by Mr. Bhattacharyya. Learned counsel in this Court, it would not be appropriate for this Court to look into the additional papers produced by the assessee for entertaining the contention and answering the same. It is true that the Calcutta High Court in Woolcombers case (supra) came to the conclusion that where profits were sufficient to meet the advance tax liability and profits were deposited into the overdraft account of the assessee then it should be presumed that the taxes were paid out of the profits of the year and not out of the overdraft account for the running of the business. But to raise the presumption in that particular case there were sufficient materials and the assessee had urged the contention before the High Court. The aforesaid decision has been followed in the case of Reckitt (supra) where without any further discussion the Woolcomber’s case has been followed. But it may be noticed that the question posed i n Reckitt’s case was directly to the effect as to where the entire trading receipts deposited by the assessee in the overdraft account and the tax was paid out of the overdraft account whether the interest paid the assessee for payment of tax out of the overdraft account is an allowable deduction. In Indian Explosives Ltd. case (supra) the aforesaid two decisions of the Calcutta High Court had been followed and the question that had been posed was to the effect whether the interest on an overdraft account paid towards the amount drawn for discharging the tax liability could be an allowable expenditure and, therefore, the High Court answered in favour of the assessee and against the Revenue. It may be noticed that in the aforesaid case the Court did not express any opinion on the question whether the interest paid on money borrowed for payment of tax was allowable as business expenditure. To the same effect is the decision of the Calcutta High Court i n Alkali Chemical Corporation of India Ltd. (supra). It may be noticed that in the present case even before the Tribunal what was argued on behalf of the assessee is that the amount of interest paid to the Bank represents and expenditure laid out or expended wholly and exclusively for the purpose of business. In furtherance of this contention it has also been urged before the Tribunal that non-payment of the taxes which were to the tune of lakhs would have entirely crippled the business and even the very existence of the company would have been threatened and, therefore, the expenditure thus incurred should have been held to be an expenditure for carrying on the business and thus allowable under Section 37(1) of the Act which contention, however, was rejected by the Tribunal relying upon the decision of this court in Padmawati (supra). In Padmawati’s case this court held that meeting the liability of income tax was a personal one and the dominant purpose for paying annuity deposit was not to earn income but to meet the statutory liability of making the deposit. It was further held that the expenditure thus made was not wholly and exclusively for the purpose of earning income and consequently the interest which was paid to http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 5 of 5 discharge the aforesaid tax liability was not allowable under Section 57(iii) of the Income Tax Act, 1961. In Madhav Prasad’s case (supra) this Court also came to the conclusion that tin or der to enable an assessee to claim deduction in respect of the interest on borrowed capital under Section 10(2) (iii) of the Income Tax Act, 1922 three conditions are required to be satisfied; namely, (1) That money must have been borrowed by the assessee; (2) that it must have been borrowed for the purpose of business; and (3) that the assessee must have paid interest on the said amount and claimed it as a deduction. It was further held that the payment made by the assessee by drawing a cheque on the overdraft account was a borrowing which was made to meet her personal obligation and not the obligation of the business and as such expenditure incurred by the assessee by way of payment of interest thereon was not for carrying on business and consequently said expenditure could not be regarded as business expenditure. In the aforesaid case the overdraft in question has been made by the assessee to discharge her personal obligation in pursuance to a promise made by her to donate a sum of Rs.10 lakhs for starting an Engineering College and the question of payment of income-tax liability did not arise in that case. The case, therefore, is not of any direct assistance to the present case. But the principle laid down therein, namely, if capital is borrowed to meet the personal obligation of the business then the expenditure cannot be regarded as a business expenditure cannot be regarded as a business expenditure would apply. As has been already noticed in Padmawati’s case (supra) this Court has affirmatively held that meeting the liability for income tax was a personal liability and such expenditure can never be held to be wholly and exclusively for the purpose of earning income. In the aforesaid premises and in view of the question that arose out of the order of the Tribunal and which was referred by the Tribunal to the High Court for being answered given by the High Court. It may further be stated that even before the High Court the assessee has not taken any step to get the question referred in the light of the contention which were advanced in this Court by filing an application under Section 256(2) of the Act. In this view of the matter notwithstanding the fact that we find considerable force in the question of law urged by Mr. Bhattacharyya, learned counsel appearing for the appellant but on the materials on record and on the amplitude of the question which has been referred to the High Court we find it difficult to entertain and decide the contention raised by the learned counsel for the appellant. Further we do not find any error in the answer given by the High Court to the question posed before it and, therefore, the appeal is devoid of merit and the same is accordingly dismissed. But in the circumstance there will be no order as to costs.