Cash deposits during demonetisation - Unexplained cash credit - Addition as unexplained cash credit in respect of cash deposits during the demonetisation period, claimed to have arisen from recorded cash sales - HELD THAT: - The source of the deposits stood explained by the assessee's recorded cash sales. The sales were disclosed in the return and audited accounts, matched with the VAT returns, and were not doubted by the Revenue. The cash books, stock registers and other records supported t... ... ...

Unexplained cash credits - reliance on uncorroborated statements Addition for unexplained cash credits founded on directors' declarations admitting accommodation entries, without corresponding relevant evidence - HELD THAT: - The Tribunal held that, consistently with the CBDT circulars, statements unsupported by corresponding relevant evidence carry no significance. The original addition had also been deleted in principle in the Assessing Officer's remand report, rendering the remaini... ... ...

Agricultural income - additional evidence - Unexplained cash credit-onus of proof Agricultural income - additional evidence - Claim of agricultural income from crops on leased land-fresh examination of additional evidence - HELD THAT: - The labour-payment extracts, agricultural-expenditure bills and sales bills produced before the Tribunal had not been examined by the Assessing Officer. As there was also variation in the agricultural income shown, claimed and disallowed, adjudication required... ... ...

DCF valuation of unquoted equity shares - Assessee's option of valuation method under rule 11UA(2) - Determination of fair market value of unquoted equity shares issued at a premium, where the assessee adopted the DCF method under rule 11UA(2) HELD THAT: - Rule 11UA(2) confers upon the assessee the option to select either the prescribed NAV method or the DCF method. Once the DCF method is selected, the AO may scrutinise the valuation report and require explanation of specific deficiencies... ... ...

Registration of educational charitable trust u/s 12A - Erroneous reliance on alleged section 11 exemption claim Eligibility of an educational trust for registration under section 12A where its application was rejected solely on an alleged prior claim of exemption u/s 11 - HELD THAT: - The returns examined for A.Y.2023-24 and A.Y.2022-23 did not disclose any claim of exemption under section 11; instead, exemption had been claimed under section 10(23C)(iiiad). The sole basis of rejection was th... ... ...

Penalty u/s 270A - under-reporting of income - Initiation of penalty proceedings during pendency of proceedings HELD THAT: - Section 270A requires initiation of penalty proceedings during the course of proceedings under the Act. The record showed that the Assessing Officer had not initiated such proceedings either in the assessment order or in the order giving effect to the appellate order; the contrary finding of the appellate authority was factually incorrect. [Paras 4, 5] The penalty or... ... ...

Reassessment notice for assessment year 2015-16 - limitation - Reassessment notice for assessment year 2016-17 - prior approval of specified authority Validity of the reassessment notice for assessment year 2015-16 after expiry of the limitation preserved under the first proviso to section 149(1) - HELD THAT: - A notice under the new reassessment regime for an assessment year up to 2021-22 could be issued only if the six-year limitation under the former regime remained unexpired. The extended... ... ...

Reassessment against amalgamated and dissolved company HELD THAT: - The Assessing Officer had been duly intimated of the amalgamation before issuance of the reassessment notice. A notice issued thereafter to the dissolved and non-existent entity rendered the entire reassessment void ab initio. Proceedings initiated or continued against a company which has ceased to exist upon merger cannot be sustained. The Hon'ble High court of Delhi in a recent decision in case of International Hospital ... ... ...

Rejection of the application for registration u/s 12AB - non-compliance with notices - Bona fide non-compliance with notices in registration proceedings - Substantial justice HELD THAT: - The explanation that the trustee, owing to age, health and engagement in charitable activities away from the office, could not access or comply with the notices was unrebutted. Treating the explanation as bona fide, the Tribunal held that substantial justice required a fresh consideration of the registration... ... ...

Computation of disallowance relating to exempt income - Investments yielding exempt income - Computation of disallowance relating to exempt income under Rule 8D(2)(iii) by reference to investments yielding exempt income during the year HELD THAT: - Following ACIT v. Vireet Investments (P) Ltd. [2017 (6) TMI 1124 - ITAT DELHI] the Tribunal held that the average value of investments for the purpose of Rule 8D(2)(iii) must be confined to investments which yielded exempt income during the relevan... ... ...

Cash deposits as business receipts - Presumptive taxation of food-grain business under section 44AD Cash deposits in the bank account claimed to represent receipts from the assessee's food-grain business could not be assessed as unexplained investment where presumptive income was accepted on similar turnover in the succeeding assessment year - HELD THAT: - The Assessing Officer had accepted the assessee's income computed at 8% under the presumptive scheme for the succeeding assessment... ... ...

Unexplained money - specified bank notes received from customers - Commission-income estimation in electronic-payment facilitation business - Double taxation of joint-account transactions Commission-income estimation in electronic-payment facilitation business - Double taxation of joint-account transactions - Estimation of commission income from bank credits in an electronic-payment facilitation business, including credits in a joint account attributable to the other account holder - HELD THA... ... ...

Industrial promotion assistance subsidy - revenue v/s capital receipt - Railway siding expenditure as revenue expenditure - Rule 8D interest disallowance where own funds cover investments - Rule 8D indirect expenditure disallowance limited to income-yielding investments Taxability of industrial promotion assistance received under the West Bengal Incentive Scheme - revenue or capital receipt - HELD THAT: - Following the earlier order in the assessee's own case, [2024 (7) TMI 1682 - ITAT CH... ... ...

Mandatory minimum opportunity under section 148A(b) - Speaking order under section 148A(d) Statutory minimum period for reassessment show-cause notice - Validity of a reassessment show-cause notice granting less than the statutory minimum period to respond - HELD THAT: - Section 148A(b) makes it obligatory to afford not less than seven days for responding to a show-cause notice before issuance of a reassessment notice. The minimum period is an essential requirement of due process and not a pr... ... ...

Unexplained money u/s 69A - demonetisation cash deposits from recorded bullion sales - Double taxation of recorded sales HELD THAT: - The cash book, sales and purchase registers, bank statements, stock registers and statutory returns supported the assessee's explanation that the deposits represented cash sales. The books, which were tax-audited, were neither rejected nor found defective, and the sales were reflected in the accounts and offered to tax. In the absence of material rebutting ... ... ...

Condonation of delay - failure to establish sufficient cause - Penalty for concealment of income disclosed after survey detection Condonation of delay - Sufficient cause - Condonation of delay in filing the appeal where the delay was attributed to the tax auditors' failure to institute the appeal - HELD THAT: - Mere attribution of the delay to professionals did not constitute a bona fide explanation. The assessee failed to place material showing that it had diligently pursued the matter o... ... ...

Disallowance of capital work-in-progress not charged to profit and loss account - Ad hoc disallowance of audited expenditure without rejection of books of account - Estimated addition for purchases from non-filing suppliers without rejection of books of account Disallowance of capital work-in-progress incurred for the plant, though not charged to the profit and loss account - HELD THAT: - The capital work-in-progress was not debited to the profit and loss account and represented expenditure i... ... ...

Revision u/s 263 in respect of unsecured loans - Lack of inquiry and inadequate inquiry Validity of revision u/s 263 of the assessment concerning unsecured loans on the ground of inadequate verification - HELD THAT: - The Assessing Officer had called for and obtained books of account, bank statements, particulars of loan providers, their balance sheets, income-tax returns, confirmations and supporting documents. The omission to reproduce such material in the assessment order did not establish... ... ...

Reassessment notice issued beyond surviving limitation - Surviving limitation for reassessment under the new regime - HELD THAT: - The period preserved on transition from the old reassessment regime had to be computed in accordance with the binding directions governing deemed notices and the time afforded for response. The subsequent notice was required to be issued within the limitation surviving under the Act read with TOLA. On the admitted chronology, the surviving period had expired befor... ... ...

Manufacture and excisability of modified motor vehicles - Extended limitation for excise duty demand - Penalty for wilful suppression of facts - Penalty on Executive Director for excise duty evasion Manufacture of modified fully built motor vehicles - Chassis-based excise exemption - Excisability of body-building and modifications made to fully built passenger and cargo motor vehicles, and consequential eligibility for the claimed chassis-based exemption - HELD THAT: - Excise duty is chargeab... ... ...