SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
R.M. Lodha and Madan B. Lokur, JJ.
Global Agro Products (P.) Ltd. – Appellant
Vs.
Income Tax Officer – Respondent
Civil Appeal No. 5866 of 2012
Decided On : 05.08.2013
Income-tax Act, 1961 - Section 80 HHC – Payment of Taxes – Tenant - Delay condoned - Aforesaid discussion would show that where an assessed has an export turnover exceeding and has made profits on transfer of under clause of Section 28 he would not get benefit of addition to export profits under third or fourth proviso to Sub-section (3) of Section 80HHC – Held, In other words where export turnover of an assessed exceeds he does not get benefit of addition of ninety percent of export incentive under clause of Section 28 to his export profits but he gets a higher figure of profits of business which ultimately results in computation of a bigger export profit - High court therefore was not right in coming to conclusion that as assessed did have export turnover exceeding and as assessed did not fulfill conditions set out in third proviso to Section 80HHC assessed was not entitled to a deduction under Section 80HHC on amount received on transfer of and with a view to get over this difficulty assessed was contending that profits on transfer of under Section 28 would not include face value of - It is a well-settled principle of statutory interpretation of a taxing statute that a subject will be liable to tax and will be entitled to exemption from tax according to strict language of taxing statute and if as per words used in explanation baa to Section 80HHC read with words used in clauses of Section 28 assessed was entitled to a deduction under Section 80HHC on export profits benefit of such deduction cannot be denied to assessed - Impugned judgment and orders of Bombay high court are accordingly set-aside - Appeals are allowed to extent indicated in this judgment Assessed was not entitled to a deduction under Section 80HHC on amount received on transfer of DEPB and with a view to get over this difficulty Assessed was contending that profits on transfer of DEPB under Section 28 would not include face value of DEPB - It is a well-settled principle of statutory interpretation of a taxing statute that a subject will be liable to tax and will be entitled to exemption from tax according to strict language of taxing statute and if as per words used in Explanation to Section 80HHC read with words used in Clauses Section 28 Assessed was entitled to a deduction under Section 80HHC on export profits, benefit of such deduction cannot be denied to Assesses - Appeal is allowed
ORDER :
1. Delay condoned. Learned Counsel for the Appellant submits that in view of the decision of this Court in Topman Exports v. CIT [2012] 342 ITR 49 : 205 Taxman 119 : 18 taxmann.com 120, this Civil Appeal deserves to be allowed and the matter needs to be sent back to the Assessing Officer.
2. On the other hand, the submission of the Learned Counsel for the Appellant is contested by Mr. R.P. Bhatt, learned senior counsel for the Revenue.
3. Having regard to the controversy involved in the matter, we are satisfied that this matter is squarely covered by the decision of this Court in Topman Exports case (supra).
4. In Topman Exports case (supra) this Court concluded as follows:
The aforesaid discussion would show that where an Assessee has an export turnover exceeding Rs. 10 crores and has made profits on transfer of DEPB under Clause (d) of Section 28, he would not get the benefit of addition to export profits under third or fourth proviso to Sub-section (3) of Section 80HHC, but he would get the benefit of exclusion of a smaller figure from "profits of the business" under Explanation (baa) to Section 80HHC of the Act and there is nothing in Explanation (baa) to Section80HHC to show that this benefit of exclusion of a smaller figure from "profits of the business" will not be available to an Assessee having an export turnover exceeding Rs. 10 crores. In other words, where the export turnover of an Assessee exceeds Rs. 10 crores, he does not get the benefit of addition of ninety percent of export incentive under Clause (iiid) of Section 28 to his export profits, but he gets a higher figure of profits of the business, which ultimately results in computation of a bigger export profit. The High Court, therefore, was not right in coming to the conclusion that as the Assessee did have the export turnover exceeding Rs. 10 crores and as the Assessee did not fulfil the conditions set out in the third proviso to Section 80HHC(iii), the Assessee was not entitled to a deduction under Section 80HHC on the amount received on transfer of DEPB and with a view to get over this difficulty the Assessee was contending that the profits on transfer of DEPB under Section 28(iiid) would not include the face value of the DEPB. It is a well-settled principle of statutory interpretation of a taxing statute that a subject will be liable to tax and will be entitled to exemption from tax according to the strict language of the taxing statute and if as per the words used in Explanation (baa) to Section 80HHC read with the words used in Clauses (iiid) and (iiie) of Section 28, the Assessee was entitled to a deduction under Section 80HHC on export profits, the benefit of such deduction cannot be denied to the Assessee.
The impugned judgment and orders of the Bombay High Court are accordingly set-aside. The appeals are allowed to the extent indicated in this judgment. The Assessing Officer is directed to compute the deduction under Section 80HHC in the case of the Appellants in accordance with this judgment....
5. For the same reasons, the impugned judgment and order of the Gujarat High Court is set aside and the Assessing Officer is directed to compute the deduction under Section 80 HHC of the Income-tax Act, 1961 in the light of the observations made by this Court in Topman Exports, case (supra) as noted above. Civil Appeal is allowed as above with no order as to costs.
Delay condoned.
Civil Appeal is allowed with no order as to costs in terms of the signed order.
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