Assessee's Appeal Allowed, Revenue's Dismissed | Time-Barred Assessment Order

The Tribunal allowed the appeal of the assessee, quashing the final assessment order due to the invalidity of the Transfer Pricing Officer's order, which was deemed time-barred. As a result, the Revenue's appeal was dismissed as it became irrelevant following the quashing of the final assessment order.

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Issues Involved:
1. Validity of the Transfer Pricing Officer (TPO) order.
2. Validity of the final assessment order passed by the Assessing Officer (AO).
3. Various grounds of appeal raised by the Assessee and the Revenue.

Summary:

Issue 1: Validity of the TPO Order
The assessee argued that the TPO's order dated 30/01/2015 was "bad in law" and "time-barred by limitation" under Section 92CA(3A) of the Income-tax Act. The Tribunal noted that the TPO's order should have been passed on or before 29/01/2015, but was delayed by one day. Citing the judgment of the Hon'ble Madras High Court in M/s. Pfizer Healthcare India Pvt. Ltd. vs. JCIT, the Tribunal held that the TPO's order was indeed time-barred and thus "void ab-initio".

Issue 2: Validity of the Final Assessment Order
Following the quashing of the TPO's order, the Tribunal observed that the draft assessment order could not have been validly passed, as the assessee would no longer be treated as an "eligible assessee". The Tribunal referred to the case of Atos India Pvt. Ltd., where it was held that without a valid TPO order, the draft assessment order and subsequent final assessment order are invalid. Consequently, the Tribunal quashed the final assessment order dated 26/02/2016 as it was barred by the period of limitation under Section 153 of the Act.

Issue 3: Grounds of Appeal by Assessee and Revenue
The Tribunal noted various grounds of appeal raised by the assessee related to transfer pricing adjustments and corporate tax disallowances. Similarly, the Revenue's grounds of appeal included issues like rejection of comparables and tax holiday benefits. However, since the final assessment order was quashed, these grounds became infructuous and were not adjudicated upon.

Conclusion:
The Tribunal allowed the appeal of the assessee, quashing the final assessment order due to the invalidity of the TPO's order. Consequently, the Revenue's appeal was dismissed as infructuous.

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