Section 80G(2) — the law in short
What the courts have decided on section 80G(2), in one screen. Read this first; open an entry when you need the facts, the reasoning and the source.
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Polynova Industries Limited v DCIT 14(1)(1), Mumbai
ITATHelps taxpayerValidity unconfirmed
An internal audit objection has produced a s.263 notice saying CSR spending is not voluntary and so is not a 'donation' at all for s.80G. Does that argument let the Commissioner revise my assessment?
No, not while the point remains genuinely open. The Tribunal held that the eligibility of CSR expenditure for s.80G is a question on which Benches differ — the Bangalore and Kolkata Benches allow it, the Delhi Bench in Agilent Technologies disallows it — so an Assessing Officer who allows it has adopted one of two reasonably possible views and the s.263 jurisdiction does not arise.
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JMS Mining Pvt Ltd v PCIT-2, Kolkata
ITATHelps taxpayerValidity unconfirmed
I added back my company's CSR spend under Explanation 2 to s.37(1) and then claimed 50 per cent of it under s.80G. The Commissioner says s.37 blocks that and has revised the assessment under s.263. Is he right?
No. Explanation 2 to s.37(1) operates only while computing business income under Chapter IV-D; it says nothing about Chapter VI-A, so a CSR contribution that independently satisfies s.80G remains deductible under s.80G. Parliament carved out only two CSR items in s.80G itself — clauses (iiihk) and (iiihl), the Swachh Bharat Kosh and the Clean Ganga Fund — and by expressio unius that exclusion implies every other qualifying donation survives.
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.