The ITAT held that interest on delayed payment of GST, VAT, and...

The ITAT held that interest on delayed payment of GST, VAT, and CST qualifies as allowable business expenditure under section 37(1) of the Act, being compensatory in nature. Similarly, interest and penalty arising from non-fulfillment of advance license obligations are deductible under section 37(1). Regarding the loss on sale of a motor car cascade trailer, the Tribunal clarified that section 41(2) applies only to entities using the straight-line method for depreciation in power generation businesses; since the assessee follows the written down value method with block of assets, the loss constitutes a short-term capital loss (STCL) under section 50. As per amendments to sections 70 and 71, STCL cannot be set off against business income. Consequently, the disallowance of loss adjustment against business income was upheld, affirming the CIT(A)'s decision.

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