2013 (1) TMI 781 - AT - Income Tax

Whether Fringe benefit tax is levied on certain expenditure -club membership fees - Held that - Fringe benefit cannot arise when expenditure is incurred on persons who are not employees - club membership fee, the payments made to LIMRA and Actuarial Society of India, are to be excluded as they are not payments to clubs - the issue is restored back to the file of AO for adjudication afresh - allowed for statistical purposes

Summary

Issues Involved:
Levy of Fringe Benefit tax on various items of expenditure.

Analysis:

Issue 1: Levy of Fringe Benefit tax on various items of expenditure
The appeals were filed by the assessees against separate orders of the Ld. CIT(A) for the relevant assessment years. The Tribunal noted that common issues were involved in all the appeals, specifically related to the levy of Fringe Benefit tax on various items of expenditure. The Ld. Counsel for the assessee referred to a previous Tribunal decision in a similar case, emphasizing the interpretation of the deeming provision of Sec. 115WB(2) regarding certain expenditures incurred by the employer. The Tribunal in the previous case held that for an expenditure to be considered a "fringe benefit," it must be in the nature of consideration for employment. The Tribunal directed the AO to apply this interpretation while determining the value of fringe benefit and to consider the nature of expenditure on conference, meetings, and club membership fee. The Tribunal further referred to another case where a similar decision was followed. The Ld. Departmental Representative agreed with the assessee's contentions, and the Tribunal, after perusing the orders of the lower authorities, decided to restore the issues back to the AO for fresh adjudication based on the previous Tribunal decisions.

In conclusion, the Tribunal allowed the appeals filed by the assessees for statistical purposes, following the decisions in the previous cases. The issues related to the levy of Fringe Benefit tax on various items of expenditure were remanded back to the AO for reconsideration in light of the interpretations provided by the Tribunal in the earlier cases.