TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (8) TMI 542
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.... following grounds of appeal: "Order passed u/s 263 of the Act is bad in law and without jurisdiction: 1. erred in passing the order u/s 263 of Act without providing an Opportunity of being heard on the issue for which assessment is set aside; 2. erred in setting aside the assessment completed u/s 143(3) r.w.s. 144B of the Act by the Faceless assessing officer as erroneous and prejudicial to the interest of revenue without appreciating that such an action can be taken only by PCIT having jurisdiction under Faceless regime; 3. erred in setting aside the assessment completed u/s. 143(3) rrw.s 144B of the Act for a debatable issue of allowability of deduction under section 80G on donations made as a part of ....
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....served that the assessee had opted for taxation under section 115BAA of the Act and computed tax at the concessional rate of 22%, which is permissible only if certain specified deductions, including those under Chapter VIA, are foregone by the assessee. However, the assessee had claimed a deduction of Rs.17,50,000/- under section 80G of the Act on account of donations forming part of its CSR expenditure. The PCIT noted that CSR expenditure, being a statutory obligation under section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013, cannot be considered voluntary in nature and hence does not qualify as a "donation" under section 80G of the Act. Therefore, the deduction claimed by the assessee u/s 80G of the Act was not allowable under the Act. The Principal C....
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....uld also claim benefit of deduction u/s 80G of the Act for the Impugned year under consideration. Secondly, whether the CSR activities can be claimed as a deduction u/s 80G of the Act and the nature of donations relating to CSR expenditure did not fall into any of the exceptions provided u/s 80G of the Act. As regards the first issue of deduction under section 80G being claimed despite the assessee opting for taxation under section 115BAA, we note that the relevant provision of section 115BAA as introduced by the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Act, 2019, was applicable for AY 2020-21 and did not bar deductions under Chapter VI-A in its entirety. The restriction, as originally enacted, applied only to deductions under Chapter VI-A "under the head....
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....163 taxmann. com 542 (Del), the Mumbai Benches in Alubond Dacs India P Ltd. vs. DCIT (2024) 163 taxmann. com 536 (Mum) and Societe General Securities India P Ltd - (2023) 157 taxmann. com 533 (Mum), and the Kolkata Bench in JMS Mining (P.) Ltd. vs. PCIT (2021) 130 taxmann.com 118 (Kol) have consistently held that CSR expenses, though statutory in nature, do not ipso facto disentitle the assessee from availing deduction under section 80G of the Act, provided all other statutory requirements under that section are met. These decisions have clarified that Explanation 2 to section 37(1), which bars CSR expenses as deductible business expenditure, does not extend to disallowance under section 80G of the Act, and that such donations still retain ....