Foreign tax credit cannot be denied solely for late Form No. 67 filing; claim remitted for verification on merits.

Belated filing of Form No. 67 was held not to justify automatic denial of foreign tax credit, because the filing requirement was treated as directory rather than mandatory where entitlement could be verified from supporting materials. The Tribunal noted that a coordinate bench had taken the same view in an identical factual setting and applied that approach to restore the matter to the Assessing Officer for verification and fresh decision in accordance with law. The foreign tax credit claim was therefore not rejected solely on the ground of delay, and the assessee obtained remand for reconsideration on merits.

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Issues: (i) Whether foreign tax credit could be denied solely because Form No. 67 was furnished after the due date prescribed for the return.

Issue (i): Whether foreign tax credit could be denied solely because Form No. 67 was furnished after the due date prescribed for the return.

Analysis: The claim for foreign tax credit arose from the assessee's return and was rejected in rectification proceedings on the footing that Form No. 67 had not been filed within the time contemplated by section 139(1) read with Rule 128(9). The Tribunal noted that a coordinate bench had already held in an identical factual setting that late filing of Form No. 67 does not, by itself, justify denial of foreign tax credit, and that the claim should be examined on merits after verification of supporting materials. Applying that approach, and noting the short delay in the present case, the Tribunal restored the matter to the Assessing Officer for verification and fresh decision in accordance with law.

Conclusion: The delay in filing Form No. 67 did not warrant outright denial of foreign tax credit, and the matter was remitted for due verification and reconsideration in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The assessee obtained a remand for reconsideration of the foreign tax credit claim, so the appeal succeeded to that limited extent and no final adjudication on the credit amount was made by the Tribunal.

Ratio Decidendi: Belated filing of Form No. 67 is directory rather than mandatory for foreign tax credit claims, and the claim cannot be rejected solely on that procedural delay if the supporting entitlement is otherwise verifiable.

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