Medical reimbursement paid by a company to its salaried...

Medical reimbursement paid by a company to its salaried full-time employee and promoter-director for critical heart surgery was held deductible as business expenditure under section 37(1). The Tribunal found the payment commercially expedient because the employee was the driving force behind the business, the surgery was genuine and undertaken at a recognised hospital, and the company bore only part of the total cost while the balance was personally met. It also held that the timing of the Board resolution, the marginal excess over the sanctioned amount, and the argument of personal expenditure did not justify disallowance. The reimbursement, authorised and debited as employee benefit expense, was therefore allowable and the disallowance was deleted.

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