Unaccounted goods found during a survey are deemed supplies under section 35(6), requiring determination of tax under sections 73 or 74. The proper officer may therefore pursue tax determination for excess or unaccounted stock at business premises, but may not directly invoke confiscation under section 130 or impose a penalty in lieu of confiscation. Confiscation proceedings under section 130 read with Rule 120, whether substituted for or added to tax-determination proceedings, are unsustainable. The confiscation-related fine and penalty were set aside, and the Revenue's appeal was dismissed.

Actual receipt of goods is an independent condition for input tax credit, requiring the claimant to establish eligibility through credible evidence. Supplier registration, tax invoices, portal reflection and banking payments do not conclusively prove receipt, while a supplier's later non-availability at its declared premises does not alone disprove an earlier supply. Input tax credit claims require cumulative evaluation of invoices, e-way bills, transport records and other corroborative material. Adequate adjudication requires verification of that evidence, reasoned findings, and an effective opportunity of hearing; failure to undertake this assessment warrants fresh adjudication without determining the claim on merits.

GST amnesty appeals should not be rejected solely because the prescribed cash component of a pre-deposit was debited through the electronic credit ledger rather than the electronic cash ledger, where portal glitches prevented the required cash-ledger debit. Such misallocation is a curable pre-deposit defect when the amount has otherwise been secured. The appellate authority must allow the taxpayer to rectify the cash-ledger component or rebalance the ledger debits, including re-credit of excess electronic credit ledger debit. Following rectification within the stipulated period, the first appeal must be admitted and decided on merits after hearing both sides.

Input tax credit on purchases from a supplier later reported non-existent must be assessed on the totality of evidence. Contemporaneous invoices, transport records, GST records and banking-channel payments require independent verification and cogent rebuttal; a supplier's later non-existence alone does not establish fictitious purchases or non-receipt of goods. Recovery of allegedly wrongful credit under Section 74 requires positive evidence of fraud, wilful misstatement or suppression with intent to evade tax. Non-appearance before authorities or delayed invoice payment followed by proportionate credit reversal with interest does not, by itself, establish those statutory ingredients or justify equal penalty.

GST transit penalties require evidence of an existing statutory contravention rather than presumptions based on a vehicle's route or anticipated delivery. A place-of-supply entry consistent with the invoice and e-way bill undermines an allegation that goods were diverted to an undeclared local supply. The GST framework does not require a selling dealer to disclose or follow a particular transportation route; route deviation alone, where accompanying documents are genuine, does not establish contravention. An uncorroborated driver statement referring to an unverified third party, coupled with interception before unloading, is insufficient to prove unauthorised delivery or tax evasion.

Refund of accumulated Compensation Cess input tax credit on coal used to manufacture leather products for domestic supplies requires independent satisfaction of statutory refund conditions for an inverted tax structure. Eligibility to avail such credit, and the absence of a blocked-credit restriction, do not by themselves establish entitlement to a cash refund. Inability to utilise the credit against other liabilities cannot independently create a refund right, and the refund formula or procedure cannot create substantive entitlement where statutory conditions are unmet. Clarifications concerning zero-rated supplies did not establish eligibility for the domestic supplies. The appellate order allowing the claims was set aside and the rejection orders were restored.

Road restoration charges paid to the PWD for cutting and restoring roads for a commercial gas-pipeline project constitute consideration for a taxable service, not compensatory damages or a non-supply arising from a sovereign function. The planned, request-based arrangement created bilateral reciprocity, and GST was payable by the business recipient under reverse charge because no evidence showed tax payment by the PWD under forward charge; the refund rejection stood. Electronic GST notices and adjudication through an authenticated portal remain valid despite no physical DIN where the notice states the factual and legal basis and the recipient suffers no surprise or prejudice; the procedural objections failed.

Reassessment proceedings concerning unsecured loans required an opportunity for the taxpayer to furnish confirmations from lenders and any further particulars needed to determine whether reassessment was warranted. Without that opportunity, the reassessment-initiation order, prior approval and consequential notice were quashed. Fresh consideration was directed after the taxpayer could provide the requisite clarifications and lender confirmations.

Reassessment on alleged undisclosed business turnover requires examination of the assessee's explanation and supporting documents before forming reasons to issue notice. Amounts asserted to be loans must be assessed for their proper character rather than treated as turnover without cogent reasons. Prior approval granted before consideration of the reply indicates predisposition and non-application of mind. The reassessment notice and orders were quashed, with the matter restored for fresh consideration after considering the explanation and seeking any necessary clarification; the alleged turnover's merits remained undecided.

Transfer-pricing rules treat entities as associated enterprises where the statutory voting-power condition is met through common shareholding in a counterparty's parent, including wholly owned step-down subsidiaries. Chapter X operates as a valuation mechanism and requires arm's length pricing through a prescribed most appropriate method. Scientific-research capital expenditure requires a nexus with the taxpayer's own business; research undertaken for group entities may not qualify. Software with multi-year, indeterminate use is capital expenditure, whereas annual-validity software is revenue expenditure. Unpaid leave-encashment provisions are deductible only on a payment basis. Research expenditure depends on intended long-term benefit and may require factual segregation where royalties or lease income arise.

For income first returned in response to a reassessment notice, assessed income is compared with the maximum amount not chargeable to tax, so acceptance of the returned income without additions does not eliminate under-reporting. The exclusion from under-reported income is unavailable where the taxpayer gives no explanation for not filing an original return despite taxable income and files only after reassessment begins. Enhanced misreporting penalty requires proof that the under-reporting resulted from a specified statutory misreporting category. Explaining cash deposits as petrol-pump sales, with no resulting addition, and merely failing to file the original return do not alone establish misreporting. Penalty is therefore limited to the rate applicable to under-reported income, subject to statutory verification.

Reassessment notices issued beyond three years require prior approval from the higher specified authority prescribed by section 151(ii); approval by a Principal Commissioner is insufficient, invalidating the notice and consequential assessment. Where an assessee asks that an original return be treated as the return filed in response to reassessment proceedings, a notice under section 143(2) becomes mandatory, and its omission invalidates the assessment. The inadequate-consideration provision for immovable property does not apply prospectively where the agreement, full payment and possession established completion of the purchase before the amendment took effect, despite later registration.

Section 68 additions for share capital, share premium and unsecured loans cannot stand where remand enquiries accept subscriber identity, creditworthiness, genuineness, funding explanations and creditor evidence, including subsequent repayment; the additions were deleted. Industrial incentives, including excise-duty exemption, transport, interest and insurance subsidies, and VAT/CST remission, were characterised by their purpose of promoting North-East industrial development rather than trading profits. They were treated as capital receipts and excluded from normal computation; receipts not constituting income were also excluded from book profit, with specified 2013-14 receipts receiving that treatment.

Bad-debt deduction was available where full invoice amounts had been recognised as income, retained sums remained receivables, and those receivables were written off as irrecoverable; the related disallowance was deleted without requiring proof that the debts became bad in a particular year. Related-party rent could not be disallowed without comparable or other material establishing excessiveness or unreasonableness against fair market value; suspicion or an allegation of non-revenue neutrality was insufficient, and the disallowance was deleted. A challenge confined to initiation of penalty proceedings was premature and was dismissed.

Global ranking support services involving institutional support, commercial facilitation, coordination, benchmarking, data organisation and reporting are characterised by their actual nature, not contractual labels, skill level or tax deduction under section 194J. Section 44ADA is confined to professions listed in section 44AA(1); advisory or consultancy descriptions do not alone make receipts professional. Where the activity is not a specified or notified profession, qualifying technical consultancy, commission or brokerage, or agency business, it is treated as business activity for section 44AD rather than professional receipts under section 44ADA. A 70% profit estimate lacks a statutory basis where section 44ADA does not apply. Tax deducted at source credit requires verification against Form 26AS before allowance.

Tax deduction at source on payments to non-residents arises only if the payment contains income chargeable to tax in India. A tax residency certificate affects access to treaty relief, but its absence does not itself establish a domestic tax charge. Commission for services performed outside India, without evidence of services or business operations in India, is not shown to be taxable in India; consequently, no tax deduction or related disallowance applies, subject to arithmetical verification. Form 15CB descriptions do not conclusively establish a payment's character, which must be determined from agreements, invoices and services rendered. A disallowance may remain where the taxpayer accepts the proposed variation and does not rebut it.

Renewal of charitable registration requires a substantive examination of whether charitable objects and activities are genuine, rather than a formal review of constitutional documents or token activity. The prescribed authority may scrutinise funding, including donor particulars and inadequately identified cash donations, where these affect the credibility of activities. Activity reports must demonstrate a link between expenditure and identifiable beneficiaries and establish benefit across society. Earlier registration does not confer a vested right to renewal, permitting fresh review of the immediately preceding financial years.

Reasonable cause under section 273B can protect against penalty for accepting a cash advance towards transfer of immovable property, even where the amount is a specified sum covered by section 269SS. Transaction genuineness and disclosure alone do not establish reasonable cause, but may support the bona fides of the explanation. Immediate personal funding needs, the purchaser's circumstances, prompt bank deposit of the cash, receipt of the balance through banking channels, and disclosure of the full sale consideration cumulatively supported reasonable cause. Penalty under section 271D was deleted.

Genuineness of a political contribution, rather than banking-channel payment or a donation receipt, determines eligibility for deduction under section 80GGC. Admissions by political-party office bearers, search material, banking patterns and statutory non-compliance may establish an accommodation-entry arrangement; in that setting, receipts and bank statements may not rebut the evidence. The transaction must be assessed on human probabilities, surrounding circumstances and preponderance of probabilities. On these facts, the claimed deduction was disallowed. A challenge to initiation of penalty proceedings under section 270A was treated as premature.

Non-genuine metal purchases with undisputed corresponding sales warrant an addition only for the profit element embedded in those purchases, rather than their full value. ITAT treated the business and dispute as materially similar to the immediately preceding year and, as Revenue showed no material factual difference, followed the prior-year estimation. The addition was reduced from 12.5% to 5% of the disputed purchases. Reopening grounds remained open, and consequential interest was to be recomputed.