Section 74A

Section 74A — the law in short

What the courts have decided on section 74A, in one screen. Read this first; open an entry when you need the facts, the reasoning and the source.

• CIT v Dr. M.A.M. Ramaswamy High CourtHelps department
  My betting income is being taxed at the special rate on the gross figure. I have a business loss the same year. Can I set the business loss off first and pay the special rate only on the net?
  No. The Madras High Court held that s.115BB is a standalone special provision and the entire winnings from betting are taxed at the special rate, without set-off of losses. The court also held that s.58(4) did not come into play at all, because the income being assessed was not income from the activity of owning and maintaining race horses — the activity that its proviso, and s.115BB itself, carve out.
• Tanisha Chaudhary v Income-tax Officer, Ward 5(2)(4), Noida ITATHelps departmentNo later treatment found
  My AY 2020-21 return was 72 days late because of Covid and the short-term capital loss was refused. Four years on I want to set that loss off against this year's gains. Can I argue the delay in the current year's appeal?
  No. The Delhi Tribunal dismissed the appeal, holding that s.80 makes it mandatory to file the return of loss in terms of s.139(3), and that where the carry forward was denied when the loss year's return was processed under s.143(1), the remedy against that denial does not lie in an appeal for the later set-off year. Kulu Valley Transport was distinguished on its facts.
• Statutory position — s.194BB: winnings from a horse race, and who the deductor is CBDT Circulars & InstructionsCuts both ways
  I collected on a horse race and the club deducted tax. Who is obliged to deduct under s.194BB, and what is the threshold now?
  Section 194BB puts the duty on a defined class of payer only: a bookmaker, or a person to whom a licence has been granted by the Government under any law for the time being in force for horse racing in any race course or for arranging for wagering or betting in any race course. Such a person paying any income by way of winnings from any horse race must deduct at the rates in force where the amount, in respect of a single transaction, exceeds ten thousand rupees — that per-transaction wording having replaced 'or aggregate of amounts', and the words 'during the financial year' having been omitted, by Act No. 7 of 2025 with effect from 1 April 2025.

Listed strongest first: Supreme Court, then High Court, then Tribunal, then CBDT. Nothing here has yet been read in full by a chartered accountant — open an entry to see where it came from.