Budget 2020-21 + FINANCE BILL, 2020

Allowing deduction for amount disallowed under section 43B, to insurance companies on payment basis.

Section 44 of the Act provides that computation of profits and gains of any business of insurance, including any such business carried on by a mutual insurance company or a co-operative society shall be computed in accordance with the rules contained in the First Schedule to the Act.

Section 43B of the Act provides for allowance of certain deductions, irrespective of the previous year in which the liability to pay such sum was incurred by the assessee according to the method of accounting regularly employed by the assessee, only in the previous year in which such sum is actually paid.

Rule 5 of the said Schedule provides for computation of profits and gains of other insurance business. It states that profits and gains of any business of insurance other than life insurance shall be taken to be the profit before tax and appropriations as disclosed in the profit and loss account prepared in accordance with the provisions of the Insurance Act, 1938 or the rule made thereunder or the provisions of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999 or the regulations made thereunder, subject to the condition that any expenditure debited to the profit and loss account which is not admissible under the provisions of sections 30 to 43B shall be added back; any gain or loss on realisation of investment shall be added or deducted, as the case may be, if the same is not credited or debited to the profit and loss account; any provision for diminution in the value of investment debited to the profit and loss account shall be added back. Thus, there is no specific provision, in this rule, in the case of other insurance companies, to allow deduction for any payment of certain expenses specified in section 43B if they are paid in subsequent previous year. There is a possibility that such sum may not be allowed as deduction in the previous year in which the payment is made. This has not been the intention of the legislature.

Therefore, it is proposed to insert a proviso after clause (c) of the said rule 5 to provide that any sum payable by the assessee which is added back under section 43B in accordance with clause (a) of the said rule shall be allowed as deduction in computing the income under the rule in the previous year in which such sum is actually paid.

This amendment will take effect from 1st April, 2020 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to the assessment year 2020-21 and subsequent assessment years.

[Clause 104]

Budget 2020-21 + FINANCE BILL, 2020