Provision for Pension

The Tribunal decisively held that actuarially determined pension liability is an ascertained business expenditure, allowable under section 37(1), and not hit by sections 36, 40A(7), 40A(9), or 43B. 

It clarified that employee benefit obligations accruing with service cannot be equated with contributions to funds, thereby rejecting the Revenue’s attempt to force fit the claim into restrictive provisions. 

The ruling reinforces a critical distinction between “accrual-based liability” and “fund based contribution”, while also reaffirming consistency with prior years in banking taxation.