2016 (6) TMI 1235 - HC - Income Tax

High Court upholds ITAT ruling on share application amounts as loans

The High Court of Bombay dismissed four appeals challenging the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal's order regarding assessment years 2002-03, 2004-05, ... Deemed dividend u/s 2(22)(e) - amounts received as share application by companies from companies in both of which the assessee has beneficial interest - whether is not loans and advances for the purposes of invoking section 2(22)(e) - Held that:- We have today passed an order in respect of the same respondent- assessee for the assessment year 2006-07 [2016 (6) TMI 1225 - BOMBAY HIGH COURT] as held that the share application money cannot be treated as loans and advances for purposes of section 2(22)(e) of the Act. Moreover, on examination of the facts, both the Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) and the Tribunal have held that what was received was share allotment money and, therefore, could not be considered to be a loan and/or advance. It is to be further noted that it is not the case of the Revenue that the transaction of taking money for allotment of shares was a colourable device to evade taxes. - Decided in favour of assessee. Issues:Challenge to order of the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal relating to assessment years 2002-03, 2004-05, 2005-06, and 2007-08. Common question of law regarding the classification of amounts received as share application by companies in which the respondent-assessee has beneficial interest as loans and advances for invoking section 2(22)(e) of the Income-tax Act, 1961.Analysis:The High Court of Bombay heard an appeal challenging the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal's order concerning the assessment years 2002-03, 2004-05, 2005-06, and 2007-08. The central legal question raised in this appeal was whether the amounts received as share application by companies, where the respondent-assessee had a beneficial interest, should be classified as loans and advances under section 2(22)(e) of the Income-tax Act, 1961. The court noted that a similar question had been addressed in a previous order for the assessment year 2006-07, where it was concluded that the formulated question did not give rise to any substantial question of law. Consequently, the court decided not to entertain the proposed question in the current appeal based on the reasoning provided in the earlier order.In light of the above, the court dismissed all four appeals related to the assessment years in question. No specific costs were awarded in this judgment. The decision was made based on the previous ruling and the lack of substantial legal questions arising from the proposed issue. The judgment signifies the court's adherence to precedent and legal principles in interpreting the provisions of the Income-tax Act, 1961.