Annual charge deduction applies to recurring alimony secured on property, and voluntariness does not defeat the statutory allowance.

A recurring liability secured by a charge on immovable property was treated as an annual charge where the obligation continued from year to year, even if paid in monthly instalments. On that construction, alimony payable under the decree and charged on the properties qualified as an annual charge and not a capital charge. The deduction under section 9(1)(iv) was also held not to depend on whether the charge was created voluntarily or imposed involuntarily; once the property was subject to a qualifying annual charge, the amount was deductible. The payment was therefore admissible as a statutory deduction.

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Issues: Whether the sum paid by the assessee to his wife under a charge created by deed on immovable property was an admissible deduction under section 9(1)(iv) as an annual charge not being a capital charge, and whether the voluntary creation of the charge took the payment outside the statutory allowance.

Analysis: The expression "annual charge" was construed as a charge securing a recurring liability of an annual character, even if the payment was made monthly or weekly, provided the liability recurred from year to year and extended beyond a single year. On that construction, the alimony payable under the decree and charged on the properties was held to be an annual charge. The statutory language of section 9(1)(iv) was also treated as unqualified on the question of voluntariness: once property was subject to an annual charge not being a capital charge, the amount of the charge was deductible, and the provision did not exclude charges created voluntarily by the assessee.

Conclusion: The payment was an admissible deduction under section 9(1)(iv), and the reference was answered in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Under section 9(1)(iv) of the Indian Income-tax Act, a recurring liability payable over more than one year is an annual charge even if discharged in monthly instalments, and the statutory deduction is not confined to charges imposed involuntarily.

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