The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has extended the income tax exemption under Section 10(46) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), an Authority established by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) operates under the jurisdiction of the Government of India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The FSSAI was established pursuant to the enactment of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which consolidated India’s food safety laws and regulations.
Under Section 10(46) of the Income Tax Act, the specified income arising to any notified body/authority/Board/ Trust/Commission (or a class thereof) which has been established or constituted by or under a Central, State or Provincial Act, or has been constituted by the Government or a State Government with the object of regulating or administering any activity for the benefit of the general public and is not engaged in any commercial activity and is notified by the Central Government in the Official Gazette for the purposes of this clause is exempt from tax.
Exempted Categories of Income:
(a) grants-in-aid received from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare;
(b) statutory fees such as license fee, registration fee, analysis or testing of food samples fee fixed through regulations made under the Food Safety Act, 2006 (No.34 of 2006) and approved by the Government of India;
(c) penalty as per the provisions of the Food Safety Act, 2006 (No.34 of 2006); and
(d) income earned on (a) to (c) above.
Condition for Grant of Exemption:
(a) shall not engage in any commercial activity;
(b) activities and the nature of the specified income shall remain unchanged throughout the financial years; and
(c) shall file return of income in accordance with the provision of clause (g) of sub-section (4C) of Section 139 of the Income-tax Act, 1961.
Retrospective and Prospective Applicability:
This notification shall be deemed to have been applied for the financial year 2020-2021 (for period from 01-06-2020 to 31-03-2021) and for the financial years 2021-2022 to financial year 2022-2023 and shall be applicable for the financial years 2023-2024 and 2024-2025.
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