General.

37. (1) Any expenditure(not being expenditure of the nature described in sections 30 to 36 and not being in the nature of capital expenditure or personal expenses of the assessee), laid out or expended wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the business or profession shall be allowed in computing the income chargeable under the head "Profits and gains of business or profession".

Explanation 1.-For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that any expenditure incurred by an assessee for any purpose which is an offence or which is prohibited by law shall not be deemed to have been incurred for the purpose of business or profession and no deduction or allowance shall be made in respect of such expenditure.

Explanation 2.—For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that for the purposes of sub-section (1), any expenditure incurred by an assessee on the activities relating to corporate social responsibility referred to in section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 (18 of 2013) shall not be deemed to be an expenditure incurred by the assessee for the purposes of the business or profession.”.

¹[Explanation 3.––For the removal of doubts, it is hereby clarified that the expression “expenditure incurred by an assessee for any purpose which is an offence or which is prohibited by law” under Explanation 1, shall include and  shall be deemed to have always included the expenditure incurred by an assessee,––

(i) for any purpose which is an offence under, or which is prohibited by, any law for the time being in force, in India or outside India; or

(ii) to provide any benefit or perquisite, in whatever form, to a person, whether or not carrying on a business or exercising a profession, and acceptance of such benefit or perquisite by such person is in violation of any law or rule or regulation or guideline, as the case may be, for the time being in force, governing the conduct of such person; or

(iii) to compound an offence under any law for the time being in force, in India or ^2.[outside India; or

(iv) to settle proceedings initiated in relation to contravention under such law as may be notified by the Central Government in the Official Gazette in this behalf.”.]

(2) [* * *]

(2B) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), no allowance shall be made in respect of expenditure incurred by an assessee on advertisement in any souvenir, brochure, tract, pamphlet or the like published by a political party.

(3) [* * *]

(3A) [* * *]

(3B) [* * *]

(3C) [* * *]

(3D) [* * *]

(4) [* * *]

(5) [* * *]

 Notes:

1. Inserted by Finance Act, 2022 dated 30.03.2022 w.ef 01.04.2022.

2.Substituted by Finance Bill 2024 dated  07.08.2024 w.e.f 01.04.2025

for the word

outside India

the following shall be substituted with

outside India; or

(iv) to settle proceedings initiated in relation to contravention under such law as may be notified by the Central Government in the Official Gazette in this behalf.”.