Corpus donations for temple construction treated as capital receipts and held not taxable as income.

Voluntary contributions received by an unregistered religious trust were treated as corpus donations where donor lists, affidavits, receipts and audited accounts showed that the amounts were specifically earmarked for construction and renovation of the temple building. The record also showed that construction-related expenditure was incurred during the year, supporting the conclusion that the receipts were applied for the stated capital purpose. On that basis, the contributions retained the character of capital receipts and were not taxable as income. The addition was therefore deleted.

---

---

Issues: Whether the voluntary contributions received by an unregistered religious trust, stated to be corpus donations for construction and renovation of the temple building, were taxable as income.

Analysis: The contributions were supported by donor lists, affidavits, receipts, and audited accounts showing that the amounts were specifically received for building construction and that construction-related expenditure was incurred during the year. The uncontroverted material established that the receipts were earmarked for a specific capital purpose and were applied accordingly. In these circumstances, the contribution retained the character of corpus donation and constituted a capital receipt.

Conclusion: The addition was not sustainable and was deleted. The assessee succeeded on the issue.

---