Employer provident fund contributions paid after accounting period but before return filing eligible for deduction under Section 43B(b)

GAUHATI HC held that employer contributions to provident fund and similar funds paid after the accounting period but before the due date for filing the return qualify for deduction under section 43B(b). The court refused to revisit its prior rulings on the point, applied those precedents to the present appeals, and dismissed the appeals.

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Issues: Interpretation of section 43B of the Income-tax Act, 1961 regarding deposit of contributions made towards provident fund after the accounting period but before the due date for filling the return of income.

In this judgment by the High Court, the court addressed the interpretation of clause (b) of section 43B of the Income-tax Act, 1961, along with the second proviso to the said section and clause (va) of sub-section (1) of section 36 of the Act. The central issue revolved around whether assessees are entitled to relief under section 43B(b) for depositing contributions towards provident fund after the close of the accounting period but before the due date for filing the return of income. The court noted that a previous decision in the case of CIT v. Assam Tribune had held that such contributions made before the filing of the return are eligible for deduction, based on an earlier decision in the case of CIT v. Bharat Bamboo and Timber Suppliers. The appellants sought a review of this decision, citing a contradictory judgment from the Kerala High Court in the case of CIT v. South India Corporation Ltd. However, the respondents argued that the relevant proviso to section 43B(b) had been amended, leading to the omission of certain words, which, according to them, implied that the provisions were no longer in existence. They relied on various decisions, including those of the Constitution Bench of the apex court, to support their argument.

After considering the submissions and reviewing the earlier decisions of the court, the High Court declined to review the decisions in Bharat Bamboo and Assam Tribune. Consequently, the court held that the decisions in those cases would apply to the present appeals. As a result, the appeals were dismissed based on the aforementioned findings and interpretations of the relevant provisions of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

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