Actual rent expenditure governs House Rent Allowance exemption where employer pays landlord and recovers rent from salary

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....House Rent Allowance exemption under Section 10(13A) turns on actual expenditure on rent for residential accommodation occupied by the assessee. Where the employer paid rent directly to the landlord but recovered the same amount from the employee's salary, the arrangement was treated as the employee bearing the rent himself, not as rent-free accommodation. The Court held that the mode of payment did not matter; the decisive test was whether rent expenditure was actually incurred. The Tribunal erred in denying the exemption, and the assessee's claim was allowed.....