Income Taxes Under AS-22

• AS 22 was issued in 2001 and is mandatory in nature for:

• Enterprises whose equity or debt securities are listed on a recognised stock exchange in India and enterprises that are in the process of issuing equity or debt securities that will be listed on a recognised stock exchange in India as evidenced by the board of directors’ resolution in this regard.
• All the enterprises of a group, if the parent presents consolidated financial statements and the Accounting Standard is mandatory in nature in respect of any of the enterprises of that group in terms of (i) above.

• All the accounting periods commencing on or after 01.04.2002, in respect of companies not covered by (a) above.
• All the accounting periods commencing on or after 01.04.2003, in respect of all other enterprises.

This standard prescribes the accounting treatment of taxes on income and follows the concept of matching expenses against revenue for the period. The concept of matching is more peculiar in cases of income taxes since in a number of cases, the taxable income may be significantly different from the income reported in the financial statements due to the difference in treatment of certain items under taxation laws and the way it is reflected in accounts.

Need

Matching of such taxes against revenue for a period poses special problems arising from the fact that in a number of cases, taxable income may be significantly different from the accounting income. This divergence between taxable income and accounting income arises due to two main reasons.

Firstly, there are differences between items of revenue and expenses as appearing in the statement of profit and loss and the items which are considered as revenue, expenses or deductions for tax purposes, known as Permanent Difference.

Secondly, there are differences between the amount in respect of a particular item of revenue or expense as recognised in the statement of profit and loss and the corresponding amount which is recognised for the computation of taxable income, known as Time Difference.

Terms used in AS-22

• Accounting income (loss) is the net profit or loss for a period, as reported in the statement of profit and loss, before deducting income-tax expense or adding income tax saving.
• Taxable income (tax loss) is the amount of the income (loss) for a period, determined in accordance with the tax laws, based upon which income-tax payable (recoverable) is determined.
• Tax expense (tax saving) is the aggregate of current tax and deferred tax charged or credited to the statement of profit and loss for the period.
• Current tax is the amount of income tax determined to be payable (recoverable) in respect of the taxable income (tax loss) for a period.
• Deferred tax is the tax effect of timing differences. The differences between taxable income and accounting income can be classified into permanent differences and timing differences.
• Timing differences are the differences between taxable income and accounting income for a period that originate in one period and are capable of reversal in one or more subsequent periods.
• Permanent differences are the differences between taxable income and accounting income for a period that originate in one period and do not reverse subsequently.