2002 (4) TMI 38 - HC - Income Tax

Summary

Issues Involved:
1. Exclusion of profits from the sale of capital assets located outside India from world income.
2. Classification of profit due to the change in exchange rate of the Australian dollars as capital gain.

Summary:

Issue 1: Exclusion of Profits from Sale of Capital Assets Located Outside India from World Income
The Tribunal upheld the Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) decision to exclude profits from the sale of capital assets located outside India from the world income. The Revenue argued that u/s 5(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, such income should be deemed to arise in India. However, the court observed that the income must arise or accrue from any business connection in India, property in India, asset or source of income in India, or the transfer of a capital asset situated in India. Since the capital assets sold by the assessee were not connected with its business activities in India and the transactions occurred outside India, the income from these sales could not be deemed to accrue in India. The court emphasized that legal fictions should not be extended beyond their purpose, and the specific inclusion of income from the transfer of capital assets situated in India in section 9 of the Act indicated that Parliament did not intend to include income from sales outside India.

Issue 2: Classification of Profit Due to Change in Exchange Rate of Australian Dollars as Capital Gain
The Tribunal upheld the Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) decision that the profit due to the change in exchange rate of Australian dollars is a capital gain. The court noted that the assessee's capital assets were purchased and sold outside India, and the transaction was not connected with the business activity in India. Therefore, the profit arising from the change in exchange rate could not be considered as income accruing in India. The court referenced several cases, including CIT v. Tata Locomotive and Engineering Co. Ltd. and Sutlej Cotton Mills Ltd. v. CIT, to support the view that such profits should be classified as capital gains and not as income arising from business operations in India.

The court concluded that the income from the sale of capital assets located outside India and the profit due to the change in exchange rate of Australian dollars should not be included in the assessee's world income for tax purposes in India.