Case: M/S Topman Exports Vs. Commr Of Income Tax,Mumbai

The assessee is a manufacturer and exporter of fabrics and garments. During the previous year relevant to the assessment year 2002-2003, the assessee sold the DEPB and DFRC (Duty Free Replenishment Certificate) which had accrued to the assessee on export of its products. The assessee filed a return for the assessment year 2002-2003 claiming a deduction of Rs.83,69,303/- under Section 80HHC of the Act. The Assessing Officer held that if the profit on transfer of the export incentives was deducted from the profits of the assessee, the figure would be a loss and there will be no positive income of the assessee from its export business and the assessee will not be entitled to any deduction under Section 80HHC of the Act as has been held by this Court in IPCA Laboratories Ltd. v. Deputy C.I.T. (2004) 266 ITR 521 (SC) . Aggrieved, the assessee filed an appeal before the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) and contended that the profits on the transfer of DEPB and DFRC were not the sale proceeds of DEPB and DFRC amounting to Rs.2,06,84,841/- and Rs.1,65,616/- respectively, but the difference between the sale value and face value of DEPB and DFRC amounting to Rs.14,35,097/- and Rs.19,902/- respectively and if these figures of profits on transfer of DEPB and DFRC are taken, the income of assessee would be positive and the assessee would be entitled to the deduction under Section 80HHC of the Act. The Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) rejected this contention of the assessee and held that the assessee had received an amount of Rs.2,06,84,841/- on sale of DEPB and an amount of Rs.1,65,612/- on sale of DFRC and the costs of acquisition of the DEPB and DFRC are to be taken as nil and hence the entire sale proceeds of DEPB and DFRC realized by the assessee are to be treated as profits on transfer of DEPB and DFRC for working out the deduction under section 80HHC of the Act and directed the Assessing Officer to work out the deduction under Section 80HHC of the Act accordingly.4. Aggrieved, the assessee filed an appeal before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (for short `the Tribunal). A Special Bench of the Tribunal heard the appeal and held that there was a direct relation between the entitlement under the DEPB Scheme and the custom duty component in the cost of imports used in the manufacture of the export product. The Tribunal further held that DEPB accrues to the exporter soon after export is made and application is filed for DEPB and DEPB is ale by the assessee and is covered under clause (iiib) of Section 28 of the Act, whereas profit on the transfer of DEPB takes place on a subsequent date when the DEPB is sold by the assessee and is covered under clause (iiid) of Section 28 of the Act. The Tribunal compared the language of Section 28(iiib) of the Act in which the expressionis used, with the language of Section 28(iiia), (iiid) and (iiie) of the Act in which the expressionis used and held that the wordsin Section 28 (iiid) and (iiie) of the Act would not represent the entire sale value of DEPB but the sale value of DEPB less the face value of the DEPB. With these reasons, the Tribunal set aside the orders of the Assessing Officer and the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) and directed the Assessing Officer to compute the deduction under Section 80HHC of the Act accordingly.5. This judgment of the Special Bench of the Tribunal was followed by the Tribunal in all the cases in appeal before us. Against the judgment and orders of the Tribunal, the Commissioner of Income Tax, Mumbai filed appeals in all the cases under Section 260A of the Act before the High Court and by the impugned orders the High Court disposed of the appeals in terms of the judgment delivered in Commissioner of the Income Tax vs. Kalpataru Colours and Chemicals (ITA(L) 2887 of 2009). In Commissioner of the Income Tax vs. Kalpataru Colours and Chemicals (supra), the High Court formulated the following two substantial questions ofWhether the Tribunal is justified in holding that the entire amount received on the sale of the Duty Entitlement Passbook does not represent profits chargeable under Section 28(iiid) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 and that the face value of the Duty Entitlement Passbook shall be deducted from the sale proceeds;(b) Whether the Tribunal is justified in holding that the face value of the Duty Entitlement Passbook is chargeable to tax under Section 28(iiib) at the time of accrual of income i.e. when the application for Duty Entitlement Passbook is filed with the competent authority pursuant to the exports made and that the profits on the sale of Duty Entitlement Passbook representing the excess of the sale proceeds over the face value is liable to be considered under Section 28(iiid) at the time ofits judgment, on the first question of law formulated under (a), the High Court held that the Tribunal was not justified in holding that the entire amount received on the sale of the DEPB does not represent profits chargeable under Section 28(iiid) of the Act and in holding that the face value of the DEPB shall be deducted from the sale proceeds of the DEPB. On the second question of law formulated under (b), the High Court in its judgment did not agree with the Tribunal that the face value of DEPB is chargeable to tax as income of the assessee under Section 28(iiib) of the Act and instead held that the entirety of sale consideration for transfer of DEPB would fall within the purview of Section 28(iiid) of the Act. In some of the cases, the appellants filed review petitions before the High Court, but the High Court dismissed the review

Reasoning:
12. It will be clear from the aforesaid provisions of Section 28 that under clause (iiib) cash assistance (by whatever name called) received or receivable by any person against exports under any scheme of the Government of India is by itself income chargeable to income tax under the headd Gains of Business orDEPB is a kind of assistance given by the Government of India to an exporter to pay customs duty on its imports and it is receivable once exports are made and an application is made by the exporter for DEPB. We have, therefore, no doubt that DEPB isle by a person against exports under the scheme of the Government of India and falls under clause (iiib) of Section 28 and is chargeable to income tax under the headd Gains of Business oreven before it is transferred by the assessee.We are, thus, of the considered opinion that while the face value of the DEPB will fall under clause (iiib) of Section 28 of the Act, the difference between the sale value and the face value of the DEPB will fall under clause (iiid) of Section 28 of the Act and the High Court was not right in taking the view in the impugned judgment that the entire sale proceeds of the DEPB realized on transfer of the DEPB and not just the difference between the sale value and the face value of the DEPB represent profit on transfer of the DEPB.15. We may now point out the errors in the impugned judgment of the High Court. The first reason given by the High Court is that clause (iiia) of Section 28 treats profits on the sale of an import license as income chargeable to tax and when the license is sold, the entire amount is treated as profits of business under clause (iiia) of Section 28 and thus there is no justification to treat the amount which is received by an exporter on the transfer of the DEPB any differently than the profits which are made on the sale of an import license under clause (iiia) of Section 28 of the Act. In taking the view that when the import license is sold the entire amount is treated as profits of business, the High Court has visualized a situation where the cost of acquiring the import license is nil. The cost of acquiring DEPB, on the other hand, is not nil because the person acquires it by paying customs duty on the import content of the export product and the DEPB which accrues to a person against exports has a cost element in it. Accordingly, when DEPB is sold by a person, his profit on transfer of DEPB would be the sale value of the DEPB less the face value of DEPB which represents the cost of the DEPB. The second reason given by the High Court in the impugned judgment is that under the DEPB scheme, DEPB is given at a percentage of the FOB value of the exports so as to neutralize the incidence of customs duty on the import content of the export products, but the exporter may not himself utilize the DEPB for paying customs duty but may transfer it to someone else and therefore the entire sum received on transfer of DEPB would be covered under clause (iiid) of Section 28. The High Court has failed to appreciate that DEPB represents part of the cost incurred by a person for manufacture of the export product and hence even where the DEPB is not utilized by the exporter but is transferred to another person, the DEPB continues to remain as a cost to the exporter. When, therefore, DEPB is transferred by a person, the entire sum received by him on such transfer does not become his profits. It is only the amount that he receives in excess of the DEPB which represents his profits on transfer of the DEPB.16. The High Court has sought to meet the argument of double taxation made on behalf of the assessees by holding that where the face value of the DEPB was offered to tax in the year in which the credit accrued to the assessee as business profits, then any further profit arising on transfer of DEPB would be taxed as profits of business under Section 28(iiid) in the year in which the transfer of DEPB took place. This view of the High Court, in our considered opinion, is contrary to the language of Section 28 of the Act under whiched or receivable by any person against exports such as the DEPB andon transfer of theare treated as two separate items of income under clauses (iiib) and (iiid) of Section 28. If accrual of DEPB and profit on transfer of DEPB are treated as two separate items of income chargeable to tax under clauses (iiib) and (iiid) of Section 28 of the Act, then DEPB will be chargeable as income under clause (iiib) of Section 28 in the year in which the person applies for DEPB credit against the exports and the profiton transfer of theDEPB by that person will be chargeable as income under clause (iiid) of Section 28 in his hands in the year in which he makes the transfer. Accordingly, if in the same previous year the DEPB accrues to a person and he also earns profiton transfer of theDEPB, the DEPB will be business profits under clause (iiib) and the difference between the sale value and the DEPB (face value) would be the profits on the transfer of DEPB under clause (iiid) for the same assessment year. Where, however, the DEPB accrues to a person in one previous year and the transfer of DEPB takes place in a subsequent previous year, then the DEPB will be chargeable as income of the person for the first assessment year chargeable under clause (iiib) of Section 28 and the difference between the DEPB credit and the sale value of the DEPB credit would be income in his hands for the subsequent assessment year chargeable under clause (iiid) of Section 28. The interpretation suggested by us, therefore, does not lead to double taxation of the same income, which the legislature must be presumed to have avoided.17. The High Court has held that as the assessees had an export turnover exceeding Rs.10 crores and did not fulfill the conditions set out in the third proviso to Section 80HHC(3) of the Act, the assessees were not entitled to a deduction under Section 80HHC on the amount received on transfer of DEPB and to get over this difficulty the assessees have contended that the profits on transfer of DEPB in Section 28(iiid) would not include the face value of the DEPB so that the assessees get a deduction under Section 80HHC on the face value of the DEPB. This finding of the High Court is not based on an accurate understanding scheme of Section 80HHC of the Act.