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TMI Blog2015 (3) TMI 853X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rs in the assessment years 1996-97 and 1997-98 respectively. The Assessing Officer (for short, the 'AO'), however, treated it as the 'deferred revenue expenditure', to be written off over a period of five years and, therefore, in these assessment years he allowed only 1/5th of the payment made, though the entire payment was made in the assessment year 1996-97. 2) The question of law, in the given circumstances, which has arisen for consideration is as to whether the liability of the assesee to pay the interest upfront to the debenture holder is allowable as a deduction in the first year itself or it is to be spread over a period of five years, being the life of the debentures? This substantial question of law has arisen in the following circumstances: 3) In the debenture issue of the assessee two options as regards payment of interest thereupon were given to the subscribers/ debenture holders. They could either receive interest periodically, that is every half yearly @ 18% per annum over a period of five years, or else, the debenture holders could opt for one time upfront payment of 55 per debenture. In the second alternative, 55 per debenture was to be immediatel ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the orders passed by the AO. The assesee then approached the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal and thereafter the High Court of Bombay but was unsuccessful as the appeals preferred by him before the two fora have been dismissed maintaining the method of deduction adopted by the AO. To put it otherwise, instead of entire amount paid by the assessee in the particular assessment year, full deduction is not given and this deduction is spread over a period of five years. Thus, the question is as to whether deduction of the entire amount of interest paid should be allowed or the stance of Revenue needs to be affirmed. 7) As pointed out above, the assessee maintains its accounts on mercantile basis. Further, the entire amount for which deduction was claimed was, in fact, actually paid to the debenture holder as upfront interest payment. It is also a matter of record that this amount became payable to the debenture holder in accordance with the terms and conditions of the non-convertible debenture issue floated by the assessee, on the exercise of option by the aforesaid debenture holders, which occurred in the respective assessment years in which deduction of this expenditure was 8) Section ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... unting, on the application of this statutory provision, on incurring of such interest, the assessee would be entitled to deduction of full amount in the assessment year in which it is paid. While examining the allowability of deduction of this nature, the AO is to consider the genuineness of business borrowing and that the borrowing was for the purpose of business and not an illusionary and colourable transaction. Once the genuineness is proved and the interest is paid on the borrowing, it is not within the powers of the AO to disallow the deduction either on the ground that rate of interest is unreasonably high or that the assessee had himself charged a lower rate of interest on the monies which he lent. In the instant case, the AO did not dispute that the non-convertible debentures were issued and money raised for business purposes. The AO did not even dispute the genuineness of clause relating to upfront payment of interest in the first year itself as per the option to be exercised by the debenture holder. In nutshell, the AO did not dispute that the expenditure on account of interest was genuinely incurred. Therefore, there is no dispute that interest has, in fact, been 'pa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ment actually incurred, though the entire amount of interest is actually incurred in the very first year, the AO, in fact, treated both the methods of payment at par, which was clearly unsustainable. By doing so, the AO, in fact, tampered with the terms of issue, which was beyond his domain. It is obvious that on exercise of the option of upfront payment of interest by the subscriber in the very first year, the assessee paid that amount in terms of the debenture issue and by doing so he was simply discharging the interest liability in that year thereby saving the recurring liability of interest for the remaining life of the debentures because for the remaining period the assessee was not required to pay interest on the borrowed amount. 12) The next question which arises for consideration is as to whether the assessee was estopped from claiming deduction for the entire interest paid in the year in which it was paid merely because it had spread over this interest in its books of account over a period of five years. Here, the submission of learned counsel for the assessee was that there is no such estoppel, inasmuch as, the treatment of a particular entry (or for that matter interest ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Year, the revenue and other incomes are to be matched with the cost of resources consumed (expenses). For this reason, in the opinion of the High Court, this matching concept is required to be done on accrual basis. As per the High Court, in this case, payment of 55 per debenture towards interest was made, which pertained to five years, and, thus, this interest of five years was paid in the first year. We are of the opinion that it is here the High Court has gone wrong and this approach resulted in wrong application of Matching Concept. It is emphasized once again that as per the terms of issue, the interest could be paid in two modes. As per one mode, interest was payable every year and in that case it was to be paid on six monthly basis @ 18% per annum. In such cases, the interest as paid was claimed on yearly basis over a period of five years and allowed as well and there is no dispute about the same. However, in the second mode of payment of interest, which was at the option of the debenture holder, interest was payable upfront, which means insofar as interest liability is concerned, that was discharged in the first year of the issue itself. By this, the assessee had benefited ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... well in that very accounting year. 16) Judgment in Madras Industrial Investment Corporation Limited v. Commissioner of Income Tax (1997) 4 SCC 666 was cited by the learned counsel for the Revenue to justify the decision taken by the courts below. We find that the Court categorically held even in that case that the general principle is that ordinarily revenue expenditure incurred wholly and exclusively for the purpose of business is to be allowed in the year in which it is incurred. However, some exceptional cases can justify spreading the expenditure and claiming it over a period of ensuing years. It is important to note that in that judgment, it was the assessee who wanted spreading the expenditure over a period of time and had justified the same. It was a case of issuing debentures at discount; whereas the assessee had actually incurred the liability to pay the discount in the year of issue of debentures itself. The Court found that the assessee could stil be allowed to spread the said expenditure over the entire period of five years, at the end of which the debentures were to be redeemed. By raising the money collected under the said debentures, the assessee could utilise the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... spreading over, the Court agreed to allow the assessee that benefit when it was found that there was a continuing benefit to the business of the company over the period. 18) What follows from the above is that normally the ordinary rule is to be applied, namely, revenue expenditure incurred in a particular year is to be allowed in that year. Thus, if the assessee claims that expenditure in that year, the IT Department cannot deny the same. However, in those cases where the assessee himself wants to spread the expenditure over a period of ensuing years, it can be allowed only if the principle of 'Matching Concept' is satisfied, which upto now has been restricted to the cases of debentures. 19) In the instant case, as noticed above, the assessee did not want spread over of this expenditure over a period of five years as in the return filed by it, it had claimed the entire interest paid upfront as deductible expenditure in the same year. In such a situation, when this course of action was permissible in law to the assessee as it was in consonance with the provisions of the Act which permit the assessee to claim the expenditure in the year in which it was incurred, merely bec ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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