Question ID : 39364

Clarification on new amendment in section 44 AE of the I T Act

Dear sir, In section 44 AE (2) (i) the section says that, being a heavy goods vehicle, shall be an amount equal to one thousand rupees per ton of gross vehicle weight or unladen weight as the case may be. Please clarify

Answer ID : 79150

Hi Mahadeo, As per the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, "gross vehicle weight" includes the weight of the vehicle along with the weight of the load as certified by the Road transport authority. "Unladen weight" is defined as weight of the vehicle without any load. With respect to the meaning of "heavy goods vehicle", the legislation has chosen it to define in the In come-tax Act itself (Explanation (aa) to section 44AE) albeit the same is defined in the Motor Vehicles Act. It may be noted that as per the explanation, any vehicle could be qualified as "heavy goods vehicle" if the gross vehicle weight exceeds 12,000 Kgs. Unladen weight is not at all referred in this explanation. However, under the motor vehicles Act, Tractor or Road-Roller would be qualified as "heavy goods vehicle" if unladen weight of such vehicles exceeds 12,000 Kgs. Therefore, a view seems to be that the unladen weight as referred in Section 44AE(2)(i) should be relevant for Tractors or Road Rollers. It is also pertinent to note that one of the rule of interpretation of law is that if the term or word is specifically defined in one Act, then the meaning of the same term or word should not be imported from any other Act. Accordingly, as "heavy goods vehicle" is specifically defined in the Explanation and does not refer to unladen weight, the meaning of it should not be imported from Motor vehicles Act. In this background, my view is that the unladen weight referred in Section 44AE(2)(i) is redundant and the rate of 1000 per ton should be applied only on gross vehicle weight.

Answer ID : 79151

In addition to the above answer, a situation may arise where INR 1000 per ton may be applied on the unladen weight. In case the unladen weight of the vehicle is more than 12,000 kgs, then it is obvious that the gross vehicle weight (including load) would also be more than 12,000 Kgs and if the weight of the load (certified by authority) could not be determined for any reason, in such cases, INR 1000 per ton may be applied on the unladen weight.

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