Interest on delayed statutory payments is deductible only where the underlying liability qualifies as business expenditure.

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....Interest on delayed statutory payments is treated according to the nature of the underlying liability. Interest on delayed sales tax, VAT, entry tax, service tax and employer's provident fund contributions is compensatory and allowable as business expenditure, while interest on delayed TDS and employees' provident fund contributions is not deductible because those payments do not constitute the assessee's business expenditure. Verification is required to prevent double disallowance where interest has already been included in another disallowed amount. For exempt-income disallowance, expenditure may be disallowed only in relation to investments yielding exempt income; if no exempt income was earned, the additional disallowance does not survive, subject to verification.....