Drug Co Allowed Cost Of Docs' France Meet As Tax Deduction

The ‘nexus’ between pharma companies and doctors is often the subject of tax litigation.

- Lubna Kably

Mumbai: Evolutis India, a Mumbai-based private company, had filed an appeal with the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) as a sum of Rs 12.79 lakh, incurred by it during the financial year 2014-15, had been disallowed by the income-tax officer. These expenses were largely towards a workshop held by it in France and included the travel and hotel expenses of the doctors who attended.

The Mumbai ITAT bench, which recently heard this matter, held that the Income-tax (IT) officer was not justified in disallowing this expense. It was incurred by the pharma company, a distributor of ortho implants, “wholly and exclusively in the normal course of its business” and should be allowed as a business deduction.