Tuesday, 18 October 2011

S.50C has no implication on Calculation of depreciation- Mumbai High Court in CIT V/s Cable Corporation of India Ltd [2011, 336 ITR 56]

Brief facts of the case:
Flat sold for Rs.9,00,000
Stamp duty value Rs.66,44,902
Ld. AO reduced stamp value from block of asset to compute depreciation on WDV of the block
CIT (A) allowed the appeal in favor of assessee

High court held as follows:

When an asset is sold, section 43(6)(c)(i)(B) of the Act provides that the written down value of the block of assets shall be reduced by “moneys payable” in respect of the asset that is sold. The expression “moneys payable” as per Explanation 4 to section 43(6) shall have the meaning as in the Explanation below sub-section (4) of section 41.

7. As per Explanation below section 41(4) the expression “moneys payable” in relation to the sale of a building, machinery, plant or furniture would be the price for which it is sold and not the fair market value of the asset. Therefore, on a plain reading of the above provisions, it is clear that the written down value of all the assets falling within that block of assets at the beginning of the previous year has to be adjusted by the amount at which the asset is actually sold and not by the fair market value of the asset that is sold.

8. As rightly observed by the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, the Legislature in section 43(6)(c)(i)(B) has used a different connotation in respect of sale of assets and sale of scrap. As per that section on sale of an asset, the written down value of the block of assets is to be reduced by the amount at which the asset is actually sold, whereas, in the case of sale of scrap, the value of the scrap, meaning thereby, the fair market value of the scrap and not the price at which the scrap is sold should be reduced from the written down value of the block of assets.

9. In our opinion, the interpretation adopted by the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal is in accordance with law and no fault can be found with the decision of the Tribunal. In the result, the question of law raised in this appeal is answered in the affirmative i.e. in favour of the assessee and against the Revenue.


No comments:

Post a Comment