The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the challenge of whether nuns and priests be asked to pay Income Tax if they draw their salary from state-funded or privately managed institutions?
The Petitioners the Immaculate Conception Society Madurai and Others have approached the Apex Court with a plea to exempt them from paying Income Tax.
The Petitioners have moved the top court against Madras High Court’s verdict in March this year upholding a 2015 income-tax department circular, ending the 70-year-old practice of exempting priests and nuns from paying tax on the ground that they donate their salaries to religious institutions they are engaged with.
A two-judge bench of the Madras High Court had held that the provisions of the Income Tax Law are apolitical and areligious in character, and salaries and grants-in-aid to nuns and missionaries are liable to attract tax deducted at source (TDS) under the Income Tax Act.
The Apex Court bench comprising of Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice Navin Sinha has issued a notice to the Centre and the Central Board of Direct Taxes ( CBDT ).
According to the petitioners, members of the congregation are bound by a codified religious discipline and they profess perpetual vows of chastity, obedience and poverty.
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