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Issues Involved: Determination of whether an advance made in the course of business can be considered a trading loss and the applicability of section 37 of the Income-tax Act.
Summary: The High Court of Madras considered a case where an assessee, engaged in film distribution, advanced a sum of money to a producer facing difficulties in completing a film. The Revenue argued that the advance, though made in the course of business, was not part of money-lending business and should be treated as a capital advance rather than a trading transaction. However, the court disagreed, stating that not every trading advance must be made by a money-lender as per section 37 of the Income-tax Act. The court emphasized that in any business, credit and temporary advances are common, irrespective of being registered under the Money Lenders Act. It clarified that spending money to salvage capital does not automatically make it capital expenditure. In this case, the advance made by the distributor to complete the film was crucial for realizing the investment, and the subsequent lending to the producer was a separate transaction. As the money became irrecoverable due to the film's failure, it was rightly considered a trading loss under section 37. Regarding the applicability of a previous court decision, the court noted that a decision should be a precedent based on its ratio decidendi, not just the facts. The court agreed that for a deduction as a business loss, it must be a revenue loss incurred in the course of business. Since the loss in this case was a revenue loss incurred in the course of business, the assessee was entitled to deduct it under section 37 of the Income-tax Act. In conclusion, the court ruled in favor of the assessee, holding that the loss incurred was a revenue loss in the course of business and thus deductible under section 37 of the Income-tax Act.
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