Cash payment disallowance us 40A3 reduced to Rs 10000 in place of existing limit of Rs. 20000/- to a person in a day. Budget 2017-18

Cash payment disallowance us 40A3 reduced to Rs 10000 in place of existing limit of Rs. 20000/- to a person in a day

Budget 2017-18 : Measures to discourage cash transactions

The existing provision of sub-section (3) of Section 40A of the Act, provides that any expenditure in respect of which payment or aggregate of payments made to a person in a day, otherwise than by an account payee cheque drawn on a bank or account payee bank draft, exceeds twenty thousand rupees, shall not be allowed as a deduction. Further, sub-section (3A) of section 40A also provides for deeming a payment as profits and gains of business of profession if the expenditure is incurred in a particular year but the payment is made in any subsequent year of a sum exceeding twenty thousand rupees otherwise than by an account payee cheque drawn on a bank or account payee bank draft.

In order to disincentivise cash transactions, it is proposed to amend the provision of section 40A of the Act to provide the following:

(i) To reduce the existing threshold of cash payment to a person from twenty thousand rupees to ten thousand rupees in a single day; i.e any payment in cash above ten thousand rupees to a person in a day, shall not be allowed as deduction in computation of Income from “Profits and gains of business or profession”;
(ii) Deeming a payment as profits and gains of business of profession if the expenditure is incurred in a particular year but the cash payment is made in any subsequent year of a sum exceeding ten thousand rupees to a person in a single day; and
(iii) Further expand the specified mode of payment under respective sub-section of section 40A from an account payee cheque drawn on a bank or account payee bank draft to by an account payee cheque drawn on a bank or account payee bank draft or use of electronic clearing system through a bank account.

These amendments will take effect from 1st April, 2018 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to the assessment year 2018-19 and subsequent years.