What the courts have decided on section 80GGB, in one screen. Read this first; open an entry when you need the facts, the reasoning and the source.
-
Public Political Party v Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax
High CourtHelps departmentNo later treatment found
My client's s.80GGC deduction has been disallowed because the recipient party is alleged to be an entry provider. Has any High Court decided what the party's own position is, and does that finding bind my client?
Yes as to the party, no as to your client. The Delhi High Court dismissed the party's own appeals, holding that the Tribunal's finding that it issued bogus donation receipts to enable donors to claim deductions under s.80GGB and s.80GGC, and paid the money back to the persons from whom it was purportedly received, is a finding of fact not open to interference under s.260A. The party also lost its s.13A exemption for failing to file the report required by the second proviso to s.13A. The Court decided nothing about any identified donor: the finding is that this party issued bogus receipts and paid the money back, not that any particular donor received a refund.
-
DCIT v Abhinandan Stock Broking Private Ltd
ITATHelps taxpayerNo later treatment found
The Assessing Officer has cut my company's s.80GGB deduction down to 7.5 per cent of average profits, relying on s.182 of the Companies Act 2013 and on the Supreme Court's electoral bonds judgment. Is he right?
No, on this decision. Section 80GGB contains no monetary ceiling and does not import the limits in s.182 of the Companies Act 2013. The Tribunal also held that the Supreme Court's decision in Association for Democratic Reforms striking down the 2017 amendment to s.182 does not operate retrospectively, so electoral bonds subscribed before that judgment cannot be disallowed on that basis.
-
ACIT v Armee Infotech
ITATHelps taxpayer
The Assessing Officer says my s.80GGC deduction fails because he cannot trace what the party did with the money, and because the party did not file its return. Does the section require me to answer for that?
No. Section 80GGC requires a contribution, otherwise than in cash, to a political party registered under s.29A of the Representation of the People Act 1951, by an assessee who is not a local authority or a Government-funded artificial juridical person. Nothing in the Act puts the donor under an obligation to ensure how the donee uses the funds, and an enquiry directed at that is misdirected.
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.
