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Apex Laboratories: A bitter pill to swallow for the healthcare sector?
By Tanmay Bhatnagar
The article in this issue of Direct Tax Amicus discusses elaborately the recent decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Apex Laboratories wherein the Court has denied the claim of expenditure under Section 37 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 incurred by pharmaceutical companies on gifting of freebies to doctors. The contention of the pharmaceutical companies that the prohibition imposed by the Medical Council of India was applicable only to medical practitioners and not to them and thus, the Explanation 1 to Section 37 would not apply to them, was rejected by the Apex Court. Discussing various fallouts of the said decision, the author observes that the judicial authorities may disallow similar expenses incurred even before the issuance of CBDT Circular in 2012. The author in this regard also discusses various situations where expenditure is incurred by pharma companies for bona fide reasons of furthering the professional engagement between a medical practitioner and a pharmaceutical company, which will now be disallowed by the Revenue department. The article concludes by stating that the healthcare sector itself may need a comprehensive health check to identify and fix problems...
Notifications & Circulars
Application for obtaining an advance ruling amended
Mandatory filing of return of income by persons other than company or a firm
Form for filing of updated return under Section 139(8A) notified
Ratio decidendi
Reassessment notices issued under the old regime deemed to be issued under Section 148A of the new re-assessment regime – Supreme Court
Processing of return under Section 143(1) based on tax audit report but contrary to judgement of jurisdictional High Court is illegal – ITAT Mumbai
Supreme Court stays observation of High Court declaring faceless assessment as non-est under Section 144B(9) – Supreme Court
Monetary limit for departmental appeals – Tax effect of an appeal is the original amount challenged and not the amount reduced by lower authorities – Supreme Court
TDS under Section 194C not applicable to assessee hiring vehicles to carry out its transportation business – ITAT Surat
No deemed registration under Section 12AA if registration not granted within six months – Supreme Court approves Allahabad High Court Full Bench judgment
