Appellate jurisdiction over excise taxability and classification disputes - Retrospective operation of clarificatory amendment - Maintainability before the High Court of an appeal from the Tribunal's order involving classification and taxability under the Central Excise Act - HELD THAT: - The insertion of sub-section (2) to section 35L is clarificatory and retrospective; determination of taxability or excisability is included within a question relating to the rate of duty. Consequently, a... ... ...

Limitation for insolvency application against personal guarantor - Mandatory service of Form B demand notice Limitation for enforcement of personal guarantee - Maintainability of the insolvency application against the personal guarantor in view of limitation - HELD THAT: - The creditor produced only a postal receipt for the demand notice invoking the personal guarantee, without any tracking report or other proof of service. Even assuming service of that notice, the application was filed beyon... ... ...

Deduction for co-operative society's interest income from co-operative bank deposits u/s 80P(2)(d) HELD THAT: - The material on record established that the interest arose from deposits with a co-operative bank which was registered as a co-operative society. The exclusion of co-operative banks from their own claim of deduction does not disentitle a co-operative society from deduction on interest derived from investments with such bank, which continues to be a co-operative society for the r... ... ...

Bogus long-term capital gains from sale of listed shares - Addition under section 69A based on investigation information Addition u/s 69A of sale proceeds from shares treated as non-genuine long-term capital gains on the basis of investigation information - HELD THAT: - The assessee substantiated the purchase, allotment, dematerialisation and sale of the shares through financial records, bank statements, demat statements and contract notes. The sales were effected through a SEBI-registered br... ... ...

Eligibility of a co-operative credit society for deduction under section 80P(2)(d) in respect of interest income received from investments with other co-operative banks - HELD THAT: - The jurisdictional High Court in M/S. PEROORKADA SERVICE CO-OPERATIVE BANK LTD, VILAPPIL SERVICE CO-OPERATIVE BANK LTD. [2021 (12) TMI 1084 - KERALA HIGH COURT] had held that interest income received from a co-operative bank qualifies for deduction under section 80P(2)(d). Applying that binding position to the inte... ... ...

Penalty imposed u/s. 271(1)(c) - Defective penalty notice u/s 274 - specific charge - Concealment of income and furnishing inaccurate particulars Validity of penalty for concealment of income and furnishing inaccurate particulars where the notice specified only furnishing inaccurate particulars - HELD THAT: - The notice initiating penalty proceedings identified only furnishing inaccurate particulars of income, whereas the penalty order imposed penalty for both concealment of income and furnis... ... ...

Cash payment to State Government-owned concern - Failure to consider additional evidence Cash payment to State Government-owned concern - Disallowance of electricity charges paid in cash to the Kerala State Electricity Board - HELD THAT: - The payment was made to a Government company wholly owned by the State of Kerala and was treated as payment to a Government concern. The assessee's contention against the disallowance was accepted. [Paras 6] The disallowance of electricity charges wa... ... ...

Deduction for interest on deposits of surplus profits by co-operative credit society - Profits attributable to provision of credit facilities to members - Deduction u/s 80P(2)(a)(i) in respect of interest received from the District Co-operative Bank and Treasury HELD THAT: - Interest earned by a co-operative credit society on deposits of surplus profits, made in the manner mandated or permitted by the statute regulating its business, remains attributable to its principal activity of providing... ... ...

Disallowance of expenditure relating to exempt income - Prospective operation of the Finance Act, 2022 amendment to section 14A Disallowance of expenditure relating to exempt income u/s 14A - Prospective operation of the Finance Act, 2022 amendment to section 14A - Disallowance under section 14A read with Rule 8D for expenditure relating to exempt dividend income for the relevant assessment year - HELD THAT: - Disallowance under section 14A is confined to expenditure incurred in relation to e... ... ...

Reassessment based on change of opinion - Reassessment of estimated commission income Validity of reassessment where income from the assessee's commission business had already been estimated in the original scrutiny assessment - HELD THAT: - The original assessment had, by a speaking order, considered the assessee's entire business and estimated its income at 10 per cent. The recorded reasons themselves acknowledged that such rate had been applied to the commission receipts. The reope... ... ...

Disallowance u/s 40A(3) - cash withdrawn from the bank account - Cash deposits explained by recorded cash withdrawals - Estimation of suppressed turnover without evidence Disallowance of cash withdrawals u/s 40A(3) - Applicability of disallowance for cash withdrawals from the assessee's bank account recorded in its books - HELD THAT: - Cash withdrawals from a bank account cannot be treated as expenditure. Since the withdrawals were recorded in the books of account, the provision governing... ... ...

Reassessment beyond four years - failure to disclose material facts - Change of opinion on share application money Validity of reassessment initiated beyond four years in respect of share application money examined in the original assessment - HELD THAT: - The recorded reasons neither alleged nor established any failure by the assessee to disclose fully and truly all material facts necessary for assessment. The original assessment records showed that the Assessing Officer had examined the sha... ... ...

Revision u/s 263 - CIT directing the AO to apply rate of 60% under the provision of Section 115BBE - Prospective application of enhanced tax rate u/s 115BBE - Applicability of the 60% rate under section 115BBE to the assessment year 2015-2016 HELD THAT: - A perusal of the provisions of Section 115BBE of the Act clearly shows that the rate of 60% has been brought to the statute w.e.f.01.04.2017, however, in the case of assessee the assessment year is 2015-2016. As the rate of 60% was not av... ... ...

Penalty u/s 270A(9) for misreporting of income - non specification of statutory limb Penalty for misreporting of income - non specification of statutory limb - HELD THAT: - For imposing penalty at the enhanced rate for under-reporting in consequence of misreporting, the Assessing Officer must specify the particular ingredient of section 270A(9) attracted by the assessee's default. In the present case, the penalty order did not identify the specific default bringing the assessee within any... ... ...

Penalty notice u/s 270A - non specification of charge for under-reporting of income Validity of penalty for under-reporting of income arising from disallowance of expenditure relating to exempt dividend income, where the notice did not specify the applicable clause constituting under-reporting - HELD THAT: - The statutory provision categorises the circumstances in which income is regarded as under-reported. The Assessing Officer was required to specify the particular limb under which the asse... ... ...

Penalty for misreporting of income u/s 270A - Disallowance of deduction for political contribution - HELD THAT: - The higher penalty applicable to under-reported income arising from misreporting can be levied only where the case falls within one of the specified instances of misreporting. AO did not identify or establish how the disallowance of the claimed deduction fell within any of the clauses enumerating misreporting. Penalty provisions being subject to strict interpretation, the enhanced... ... ...

Depositories must file SFT-2517 for demat-account transactions half-yearly through the prescribed SFTP process, with a signed and verified control statement, to support pre-filling of capital gains information. Transaction summaries must cover user-initiated debits, identify corresponding credits using the FIFO method, and determine estimated sale consideration and acquisition cost using prescribed weighted-average or end-of-day values. Assets must be classified as short- or long-term under specified holding periods; market-linked debentures and specified mutual funds are always short-term. Depositories must provide reported information to account holders for AIS reconciliation, correct or delete inaccurate data, and maintain information-security and archival procedures. Non-compliant data files are rejected or flagged for correction.

Registrar and Share Transfer Agents registered under the SEBI Act must furnish half-yearly Statements of Financial Transactions for mutual fund transactions in the prescribed electronic format, with a signed and verified control statement. Reporting supports pre-filling of income-tax returns and requires account holders to receive reported transaction information for reconciliation with the Annual Information Statement. Transaction summaries must cover user-initiated debit transactions, apply FIFO to identify corresponding acquisitions and determine holding periods, and classify assets as short-term or long-term under the prescribed security classes. Estimated sale consideration, acquisition cost, grandfathered cost rules and indexation mus.....

Insolvency Professionals must conduct further enquiry where indicators suggest that CIRP or liquidation may be used for a fraudulent or malicious purpose unrelated to insolvency resolution or liquidation. Relevant indicators include a dominant recently assigned single creditor, connected corporate debtors entering CIRP with overlapping creditors, limited competitive bidding, unsupported disproportionate recoveries, links to fraud proceedings, and unjustified related-party loans or write-offs. Indicators are illustrative and not conclusive; they require holistic, contextual assessment based on records available in the ordinary course. Where reasonable grounds support suspected misuse, the IP must apply to the Adjudicating Authority, identifying the indicators, supporting material, and reasons for seeking directions.

Physical verification of an applicant's place of business is compulsory before registration is granted under the DGST Act, 2017. Proper Officers must complete verification within seven days of receiving the registration application, to avoid delay in processing. The direction follows findings that numerous registered persons were non-existent, including some registered through Aadhaar-based registration, raising concerns of registrations obtained for tax evasion. Under Rule 25, where physical verification is required, the verification report, supporting documents and photographs must be uploaded in Form GST REG-30 on the common portal within 15 working days after verification. Non-compliance will be treated seriously.