The law on deductibility of expenditure incurred for an illegal purpose has had a long history with the Courts & Tribunals taking a practical view of the matter & upholding the assessee’s claim. Though the Explanation to s. 37(1) was inserted to supersede these judgements, there is still scope to argue that some types of unlawful expenditure are deductible, says the author, and makes good his contention by reference to several case laws

The authors argue that the law laid down by the Special Bench in All Cargo Global vs. DCIT is inconsistent with the law now laid down by the Delhi High Court in Anil Kumar Bhatia. Using their immense experience in the subject, the authors have put the entire issue in its proper perspective, identified the controversies that need to be answered by the Courts and explained the way forward

No practitioner can afford to be unaware of latest judgements & whether experts view the judgement as being right or wrong. Towards that end, the author has agreed to take time out of his busy schedule to make an analysis of landmark judgements every quarter. In this part, the author has identified three landmark judgements analyzed them with a critical eye and identified their strengths & shortcomings

Narayana Murthy, the billionaire founder of Infosys and doyen of the Indian I. T. Industry, has expressed deep disappointment that India has faltered in its growth pace owing to the abject indifference of the Government and the flawed policies of the Income-tax department. There is so much pessimism about India amongst Global majors that India does not even figure as an investment alternative anymore, he says, and offers solutions on what can be done to reverse the trend