Foreign tax credit claim cannot fail solely for late Form 67 filing; verification and relief were remanded for reconsideration.

Foreign tax credit under section 90 and the applicable DTAA was treated as a substantive treaty relief claim, and Rule 128(9) was applied as a procedural requirement for filing Form 67. Late or disputed filing of Form 67 was not regarded as an automatic bar where the credit otherwise arose from income taxed both abroad and in India. The filing issue was treated as curable and required verification of the form and supporting material. The matter was remanded to the Assessing Officer to verify compliance and allow foreign tax credit in accordance with law.

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Issues: Whether the assessee's claim for foreign tax credit could be denied merely for late filing of Form 67 and whether the matter required verification and fresh consideration.

Analysis: The claim for foreign tax credit was based on the treaty relief framework under section 90 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 and the applicable DTAA, with Rule 128(9) governing the procedural filing of Form 67. The issue was whether non-compliance with that procedure, by itself, could defeat a claim otherwise arising from income taxed both abroad and in India. The record showed that Form 67 had been filed and the dispute was confined to verification of the filing and supporting material. The procedural lapse was treated as curable and not as an automatic bar to the substantive claim.

Conclusion: The assessee was not denied foreign tax credit on a pure technicality, and the issue was remanded to the Assessing Officer to verify Form 67 and grant relief in accordance with law.

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