Assessee transferred its entire bottling and marketing undertaking as a going concern for a consideration. Assessing Officer sought to tax parts of consideration as short-term and long-term capital gains, and examined taxability as revenue receipts under section 28(ii) Tribunal held that transfer resulted in loss of assessee’s source of income and a business loss, and treated consideration as capital receipt for sale of undertaking as a going concern-Whether since assessee suffered a termination of existing contracts as well as a non-compete obligation which restricted its ability to undertake a similar business and assessee had to change its name as well, there was a complete loss of business by assessee resulting in an extinguishment of its source of income.Consideration received was to be taxed as capital receipt under section 45. In East India Housing and Land Development Trust Ltd. v. CIT [(1961) 42 ITR 49 (SC)] that if the income from a source falls within a specific head, the fact that it may indirectly be covered by another head will not make the income taxable under the latter head. In Kettlewell Bullen & Co. Ltd. v. CIT [1964] 53 ITR 261(SC), cancellation of agency agreement: capital receipt. In CIT v. D.P. Sandu Bros. Chembur (P.) Ltd. [2005] 273 ITR 1/142 Taxman 713 (SC) held that were it not for the inability to compute the cost of acquisition under section 48, there is no doubt that a monthly tenancy or leasehold right is a capital asset and that the amount received on its surrender was a capital receipt. But because it has been held that section 45 cannot be applied, it is not open to the Department to impose tax on such capital receipt by the assessee under any other section. In United Commercial Bank Ltd. v. CIT (1957) 32 ITR 688 (SC) held that the heads of income provided for in the sections of the Income-Tax Act, 1922, are mutually exclusive and where any item of income falls specifically under one head, it has to be charged under that head and no other. In other words, income derived from different sources falling under a specific head has to be computed for the purposes of taxation in the manner provided by the appropriate section and no other. (AY. 1998-99)
CIT v. Spectra Shares and Scrips Ltd. (2026) 308 Taxman 141 (Telangana)(HC)
S. 45: Capital gains-Sale of undertaking as a going concern-capital receipt-If the income from a source falls within a specific head, the fact that it may indirectly be covered by another head will not make the income taxable under the latter head. [S.4, 28(ii), 260A]
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