# ITAT rules spouse’s credit card for business expenses allowed 2026-09-17T22:27:02+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal's Mumbai bench has ruled that business expenses paid through a spouse's credit card and later reimbursed cannot be disallowed merely on that ground. The order, relevant for small business owners and family-run firms, makes clear that such an arrangement does not make the expenditure inadmissible, nor does it turn the reimbursement into 'payment for services' requiring tax deducted at source. In the case, a taxpayer had claimed foreign travel expenses of Rs 6.4 lakh paid to his wife, explained as reimbursement for charges on her credit card. The I-T officer and appellate commissioner had questioned the routing and treated it as a payment for services. The ITAT rejected this view, holding no legal restriction bars using a spouse's card for genuine business spending followed by full reimbursement. Tax experts stress that business purpose must be established and supporting records kept, including invoices, card statements, and reimbursement proof, to maintain a clear audit trail. ## Indian Opinion Analysis The ruling reinforces a longstanding principle: the tax law looks at the substance of an expense, not the instrument used to pay it. Small businesses and professionals often share household finances, and the Income Tax Act does not prescribe a mode of payment for deductibility. The key safeguard, as the tribunal itself noted, is a clean paper trail. The assessing officer retains the power to examine whether the spouse was only a pass-through or actually rendered independent services. The next test for taxpayers will be how consistently lower tax authorities apply this guidance in scrutiny assessments, where documentation is often found lacking. ## Coverage - timesofindia.indiatimes.com Tags: Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, ITAT, Mumbai, tax Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/itat-rules-spouses-credit-card-for-business-expenses-allowed/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/itat-rules-spouses-credit-card-for-business-expenses-allowed/#story-in-brief