MAT machinery under section 115JB does not extend to corresponding new banks lacking Companies Act status.

Section 115JB MAT machinery applies differently after the 2013 amendment: clause (a) covers companies preparing accounts under Schedule III to the Companies Act, 2013, while clause (b) is confined to cases where the second proviso to section 129(1) of that Act applies. Corresponding new banks constituted under the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970 are not companies formed or registered under the Companies Act and prepare accounts under the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and the acquisition statute. The deeming fiction treating such banks as Indian companies for income-tax purposes cannot be extended to satisfy the Companies Act condition in section 115JB(2)(b), so MAT under that provision does not apply to them.

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Issues: Whether clause (b) of sub-section (2) of section 115JB of the Income-tax Act, as inserted with effect from 1 April 2013, applies to nationalised banks constituted as corresponding new banks under the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970 and makes them liable to MAT on book profits.

Analysis: Section 115JB is a charging provision based on book profit, while sub-section (2) is the machinery provision prescribing the manner of preparation of profit and loss account. After the 2013 amendment, clause (a) applies to companies preparing accounts under Schedule III to the Companies Act, 2013, whereas clause (b) applies only where the second proviso to section 129(1) of the Companies Act, 2013 is applicable. The assessee banks were not companies formed or registered under the Companies Act and were brought into existence by a separate acquisition statute; they were required to prepare accounts under the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and the Acquisition Act. The deeming fiction in section 11 of the Acquisition Act treats a corresponding new bank as an Indian company only for the purposes of the Income-tax Act and cannot be extended to make it a company under the Companies Act for section 115JB(2)(b). The Court also noted the distinction maintained in the Income-tax Act itself between banking companies and corresponding new banks.

Conclusion: Clause (b) of sub-section (2) of section 115JB does not apply to corresponding new banks, and MAT under section 115JB cannot be levied on such banks.

Ratio Decidendi: A statutory deeming fiction confined to the Income-tax Act cannot be extended to satisfy a Companies Act condition in the MAT machinery provision, and where the assessee is not a company under the Companies Act, section 115JB(2)(b) is inapplicable.

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