Tribunal directs Assessing Officer to adjust tax refund against interest refund first.

The Tribunal allowed the appeal, directing the Assessing Officer to adjust the tax refund against interest refund first, in accordance with previous rulings in the assessee's case for other assessment years.

---

---

Issues:
Adjustment of tax refund against interest refund - Short granting of interest u/s. 244A

Analysis:
The appeal was filed against the order of the Ld. CIT(A) regarding the Assessment year 2005-06. The grievance of the assessee was that the Ld. CIT(A) wrongly considered the amount of tax included in the refund granted, resulting in the short granting of interest u/s. 244A amounting to &8377; 2,24,36,158. The assessee argued that the tax refund should have been adjusted first against the interest refund due before adjusting it against the tax refund due. The Tribunal considered an identical issue in the assessee's own case for A.Y. 1988-89 and A.Y. 2001-02 and found merit in the contention of the assessee. The Tribunal had previously ruled that the amount refunded by the Revenue should be adjusted towards interest payable to the assessee first, and then the balance, if any, should be adjusted towards tax. The Tribunal directed the Assessing Officer to decide the issue afresh based on the directions given in the previous cases.

Therefore, the Tribunal allowed the appeal filed by the assessee, following the decision of the Co-ordinate Bench and directing the Assessing Officer to reconsider the issue in line with the Tribunal's previous rulings.

---