Foreign tax credit under treaty relief requires verifiable evidence, with partial-year claims restored for full-year verification.

Relief under section 90/90A for foreign tax paid in the United States depends on verifiable evidence of tax payment under the treaty framework, and the claim should not be rejected solely on technical grounds where supporting records exist for part of the relevant period. Where the available U.S. return covered only part of the financial year and the remaining period required verification, the proper course was to restore the matter for de novo examination of the full-year foreign tax credit claim on the basis of the relevant U.S. returns and grant relief as per law.

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Issues: Whether the assessee was entitled to relief under section 90/90A for foreign tax paid in the United States and whether the matter required restoration to the Assessing Officer for verification of the full-year claim.

Analysis: The assessee had claimed foreign tax credit in respect of income earned in India and the USA. The record showed that the U.S. return for Calendar Year 2022 had been furnished, covering part of the relevant financial year, but the return for the remaining period had not been produced before the authorities. The appellate authority accepted that treaty relief under section 90/90A could not be denied merely on technical grounds where supporting evidence existed for the covered period, and directed verification of the proportionate claim. Since the return for Calendar Year 2023 was stated to be available before the Tribunal, the issue was considered fit for re-verification for the entire financial year on the basis of the U.S. returns for 2022 and 2023.

Conclusion: The assessee was held entitled to have the foreign tax credit claim verified for the full financial year, and the matter was restored to the Assessing Officer for de novo adjudication and grant of relief as per law.

Ratio Decidendi: Relief for foreign taxes under a tax treaty is to be granted on verifiable evidence of tax payment, and where the available material covers only part of the relevant period, the claim may be restored for verification rather than denied in entirety.

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