TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2012 (1) TMI 302
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.... 2. In the Revenue's appeal, the grievance is against the order of the CIT(A) in deleting the addition of income made by the AO on account of gifts received by the private trust, by overlooking the provisions of sec. 2(24)(iva) read with sec. 160(1)(iv), as per which, any benefit or perquisite received is very much taxable in the assessee's hands. The Revenue has also relied upon the decision of Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Dr. K George Thomas Vs. CIT for contending that the Peetadhipathi of the trust being sole beneficiary of the trust, any gifts received from preaching and propagating religious faith constitutes professional income. 3. The brief facts of the case are that the assessee is a trust. The trust has been created vide t....
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.... letters issued by the donors confirming the gifts together with name and full address etc. making it possible for the department to verify and carry on investigation if need be. The AO however treated the sum of Rs. 18,40,837/- as taxable income and disallowed the expenses of Rs. 77,444/- claimed towards traveling charges and repair charges of Rs. 92,431/- on the ground that they were personal expenditure. 4. Aggrieved, the assessee preferred an appeal before the CIT(A) stating that the amounts in question are donations from the donors for the benefit of the trust and, therefore, are not taxable. He also questioned the disallowance of expenses for traveling and repairs. 5. The CIT(A) after considering the assessee's contention at length ....
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....or the benefit of any person, such trustee or trustees. 8. She submitted that the assessee trust has been founded solely for the purpose of taking care of the Peetadhipathi and, therefore, it is not for any charitable or religious purposes but for the individual benefit of the Peetadhipathi and as per the definition u/s 160 of the Income-tax Act, the trust which receives the contributions or donations is a representative assessee and as per sec. 2(24) (iva) of the Income-tax Act the contributions received are income of the assessee. 9. The learned counsel for the assessee on the other hand supported the orders of the CIT(A) and submitted that as per clause(iv)(a) sub sec. 24 of sec. 2 of the Income-tax Act 'only donations or gifts receive....
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....va) of the Income-tax Act. Sub sec. (24) of sec. 2 gives the meaning of 'income'. For the purpose of clarity, the relevant part of provision is reproduced hereunder : Section 2(24) - 'income' includes - (i) profits and gains (ii) dividend ; -------- (iva) the value of any benefit or perquisite whether convertible into money or not, obtained by any representative assessee mentioned in clause (iii) or clause (iv) of sub sec. (1) of sec. 160 or by any person on whose behalf or for whose benefit any income is receivable by the representative assessee (such person being hereafter in this slub-clause referred to as the beneficiary) and any sum paid by the representative assessee in respect of any obligation which, but for such pa....
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....tative assessee will come only when the income is chargeable to tax. Therefore, we do not see any reason to interfere with the order of the CIT(A). 15. The assessee has raised cross-objection against the order of he CIT(A). 16. The only grievance of the assessee's is against the observation of the CIT(A) at para 18 of his order. Para 18 of the order of the CIT(A) is as under : "The only question which still remains is whether the donations received can be treated as in the nature of benefit or perquisite of the profession if we consider the religious preaching and discourse as a profession. It is apparent that such an issue can be considered only in the case of the Peetadhipathi himself who is the sole beneficiary of this Trust. The tru....