CA in Practice
35867 Points
Joined June 2009
Taxability of Stipend
Whether stipend received by trainee during training period is taxable or not, a big question.
And if at all Taxable under which head of income?
Opinion in favour of queriest
Stipend, prima facie, should be treated as a scholarship and should be exempt, since Sec. 10(16) exempts all ``scholarships granted to meet the cost of education''. In CIT v V. K. Balachandran (1984) 147 ITR 4 (Mad), the amount received as grant-in-aid and other fringe benefits from a foreign university, though in the nature of salary, was found to be still exempt under Sec. 10(16). A similar medical scholarship from a foreign university during training programmes was held to be exempt under Sec. 10(16) in A. Ratnakar Rao v Addl. CIT (1981) 128 ITR 527 (Kar) and Dr. V. Mahadev v CIT (1990) 184 ITR 533 (Mad).
In the latter case, it was held that since scholarship is exempt, even if there be any savings therefrom, it need not be taxable.
Opinion against queriest
Stipend is not expressly exempt under the Act. Thus Stipend is certainly taxable income if it is purely being given in form of cost of living or as wages or salary or for any purpose but if it is purely for meeting cost of studies then it’s otherwise. However, if the Stipend granted is for furthering education or gaining knowledge, same can be claimed exempt u/s 10[16] of the I T act. In this regard the decision of the Karnataka High Court in A. Ratnakar v. Addl. CIT [1981] 128 ITR 527 can be applied. This was also followed by Tribunal in case of Income-tax Officer v. Dr. G. N. Ramachandran [1 ITD 902]. Since there is no Employee Employer relationship the said income would not fall under head “Income from Salaries” and will be taxable under the head “Income from Other Sources”.