The assessee, a shipping company under the Tonnage Tax Scheme, ...

Shipping firm's income classification under tonnage tax scrutinized for core vs incidental activities.

Case Laws     Income Tax

October 17, 2024

The assessee, a shipping company under the Tonnage Tax Scheme, had declared certain incomes like sundry credit balances written back, excess provisions written back, sundry receipts, insurance and PI claims, house rent, bus service receipts, interest income, commission on disbursements, profit on bar and shop sales, sundries related to core shipping activities, and water charges recovery as part of core shipping income u/s 115V(2). The AO treated some of these incomes as non-core, taxing them under normal provisions. The CIT(A) and DRP provided relief on certain issues. The ITAT allowed the assessee's claim, treating these incomes as core shipping activities based on co-ordinate bench rulings, except for profit on bar/shop sales which was held incidental. The ITAT also allowed administrative expenses allocation against incidental activity income u/s 115VI, directed foreign tax credit u/ss 90/91 following its earlier order, and dismissed the revenue's appeal. The core issues revolved around determining the scope of core versus incidental shipping activities under the Tonnage Tax regime.

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