9911796707
TMI Blog2001 (9) TMI 42X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er years, prior to the assessment year in which agricultural as well as non-agricultural income was returned by the assessee should not be considered. That contention having been rejected by the Tribunal, which upheld the view that was taken by the Commissioner, the Revenue has brought this reference before us for considering the following questions: "1. Whether on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Appellate Tribunal was right in holding that the assessee was entitled to have the losses of earlier years under the head 'Agricultural income' set off against the income under similar head of the current year, even though the losses have not been computed by the Income-tax Officer in the respective assessments in the absence o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f April, 1979. Sub-rule (5) of the same rule 9 provides that notwithstanding anything contained in that rule no loss, which has been determined by the Income-tax Officer, under the provisions of these rules, or the rules contained in Part IV of the First Schedule to the Finance Act, 1974 (20 of 1974), or of the First Schedule to the Finance Act, 1975 (25 of 1975), or of the First Schedule to the Finance Act, 1976 (66 of 1976), or of the First Schedule to the Finance (No. 2) Act, 1977 (29 of 1977), or of the First Schedule to the Finance Act, 1978 (19 of 1978), shall be set off under sub-rule (1), or, as the case may be, sub-rule (2). Rule 10 of the Rules in Part IV of the Finance Act, 1974, provides that where the net result of the computa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed by the Income-tax Officer, under the provisions of those rules and the rules contained in the Finance Acts of earlier years being set off against the income of the assessee for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 1979. That sub-rule does not specify the time at which the loss should have been determined under the rules of the Finance Acts of the earlier years. It does not deal with a situation where an assessee has no non-agricultural income, which is required to be taxed under the Central Act and has incurred a loss in his activities in relation to agriculture. Such a person was not required to file a return during the assessment years commencing on the 1st day of April, 1974, till the a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... return solely for the purpose of having the agricultural loss from his agricultural activities computed, the assessee not having had income from non-agricultural sources in those years. The Commissioner and the Tribunal have held rightly that in the absence of any express prohibition, an assessee is not to be denied the benefit of set off provided for in rule 9 of Part IV of the First Schedule to the Finance Act, 1979, as long as the assessee is able to show that he had incurred loss from his agricultural activities in the earlier assessment years after a computation made in accordance with the requirements of the rules provided in the relevant Finance Acts and that such loss had not been set off against the agricultural income of earlier ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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