TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1951 (11) TMI 1
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....ted States of America and owns steamships which visit India. The company's Indian profits which are computed on the basis of " days on round voyage " are assessed to tax under the Indian Income-tax Act as a " company " through its agents, Messrs. Angus Co., Ltd. In the course of the assessment for the years 1941-42, 1942-43 and 1943-44, the company claimed that its unabsorbed depreciation at the end of 1938-39 should be deemed to be a part of the depreciation allowance for 1939-40 and therefore such unabsorbed depreciation should be allowed to be further carried forward under section 10(2)(vi) of the Income-tax Act. This claim was negatived by the Income-tax Officer, the Appellate Assistant Commissioner of Income-tax and the Income-tax Appe....
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....an ships ordinarily such percentage on the original plying on inland waters) to such cost thereof to the assessee as may percentage........... prescribed (and in any case or class of cases be in any other case, to such percen- prescribed :-- tage on the written down value thereof as may in any case or class of cases be Prescribed) :-- Provided that-- Provided that-- (a) the prescribed particulars (a) No change. have been duly furnished; (b) where full effect cannot be (b) where full....................... any given to any such allowance in year, not being a year which ended any year owing to there being no prior to the 1st day of April, 1939, profits or gains chargeable for that owing ....................... year....
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.... this appeal largely turns upon the effect of the following words :-- " Where full effect cannot be given to any such allowance in any year, not being a year which ended prior to the 1st day of April, 1939, owing to there being no profits or gains chargeable for that year.......... the allowance or part of the allowance to which effect has not been given.......... shall be added to the amount of the allowance for depreciation for the following year and deemed to be part of that allowance ... ........ and so on for succeeding years." It may be observed that as a result of this provision, the unabsorbed depreciation for a particular year becomes, by legal fiction, part of the allowance for depreciation for the succeeding year. The materia....
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....Tribunal to state a case giving rise to the contention which had found favour with the Appellate Assistant Commissioner but had been rejected by the Tribunal. The only question with which we are thus concerned is whether or not the company was entitled to carry forward the unabsorbed depreciation at the end of 1938-39. In our opinion, this question has been rightly answered by the High Court in favour of the assessee. It will be observed that we are here concerned with to datum lines : (1) the 1st of April, 1940, when the Act came into force and (2) the 1st of April, 1939, which is the date mentioned in the amended proviso. The first question to be answered is whether these dates are to apply to the accounting year or the year of assess....
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....nswering the reference, we have to accept the position which the accounts would have revealed had the Income-tax Officer not wrongly refused to allow the unabsorbed depreciation of 1938-39 to be carried forward to 1939-40. It follows from this, as the learned Chief Justice has pointed in the judgment under appeal, that according to the mandatory provisions of the old section, the allowance for 1939-40 is not only the percentage allowed for that year but also the unabsorbed depreciation for 1938-39. Now we come to the assessment year 1940-41. The amended ,section applied here and the question is whether under the new law this figure could be carried forward into 1940-41. The first question which arises is whether the assessment year 1939-4....