Income-tax Act, 1961

Relief to company in respect of dividend paid out of past taxed profits.

236. (1) Where in respect of any previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing after the 31st day of March, 1960, an Indian company or a company which has made the prescribed arrangements for the declaration and payment of dividends within India, pays any dividend wholly or partly out of its profits and gains actually charged to income-tax for any assessment year ending before the 1st day of April, 1960, and deducts tax therefrom in accordance with the provisions of Chapter XVII-B, credit shall be given to the company against the income-tax, if any, payable by it on the profits and gains of the previous year during which the dividend is paid, of a sum calculated in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (2), and, where the amount of credit so calculated exceeds the income-tax payable by the company as aforesaid, the excess shall be refunded.

(2) The amount of income-tax to be given as credit under sub-section (1) shall be a sum equal to ten per cent of so much of the dividends referred to in sub-section (1) as are paid out of the profits and gains actually charged to income-tax for any assessment year ending before the 1st day of April, 1960.

Explanation 1.-For the purposes of this section, the aggregate of the dividends declared by a company in respect of any previous year shall be deemed first to have come out of the distributable income of that previous year and the balance, if any, out of the undistributed part of the distributable income of one or more previous years immediately preceding that previous year as would be just sufficient to cover the amount of such balance and as has not likewise been taken into account for covering such balance of any other previous year.

Explanation 2.-The expression "distributable income of any previous year" shall mean the total income (as computed .... To read the full section download the app from Google Play store