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No Surcharge in Block Assessment cases: Special Bench AIT News Network MUMBAI. Special Bench of ITAT vide a recent landmark ruling AIT-2006- 57 -ITAT-SB has ruled that the levy of surcharge prior to insertion of proviso to Section 113 vide the Finance Act, 2002, is not valid in a block assessment made under Section158BC of the Income Tax Act. Block Assessment is done for undisclosed income found consequent to search by Income tax department. The following proviso to S.113 was inserted by the Finance Act, 2002, with effect from 1-6-2002: “Provided that the tax chargeable under this section shall be increased by a surcharge, if any, levied by any Central Act and applicable in the assessment year relevant to the previous year in which the search is initiated under section 132 or the requisition is made under section 132A.” Special Bench has ruled as under:
- It would be ridiculous to take a view that a person would pay advance tax and surcharge thereon, in anticipation of a search taking place at his residence and that such income which suffered tax would be treated as undisclosed income, and it would not be proper to assume that the legislature wanted the assessees to pay advance tax on undisclosed income.
- Chapter XIVB is a self-contained code and undisclosed income of a block period is distinct from total income computed with reference to a previous year.
- Neither sec. 2(1) nor sec. 2(8) of the Finance Acts brings to tax, by way of a distinct and separate charge, the undisclosed income of a block period computed as per Chapter XIVB and as levy of surcharge in block assessments cannot be brought within the ambit of these charging sections, the levy has to fail.
- The plain intention of the legislature was never to levy surcharge on undisclosed income of a block period prior to 1-6-2002, when the statute is read as a whole.
- The levy of surcharge, prior to introduction of proviso to sec. 113 with effect from 1-6-2002, is riddled with complexity to the extent of making it unworkable and impossible to harmonise and, therefore, the levy fails.
( Click here to Download full text of 103 Page ruling AIT-2006-57 -ITAT-SB )
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