Renewal of registration u/s 12AB - charitable institution established otherwise than under an instrument - Public-trust records as evidence of creation and establishment - Documentary evidence of creation and establishment of a public trust Renewal of registration u/s 12AB for a public charitable educational institution which was not constituted under a formal trust deed or Memorandum of Association - HELD THAT: - Rule 17A(2) distinguishes an applicant created under an instrument from one cre... ... ...

Validity of reassessment notice - prior sanction under section 151 Validity of the reassessment notice issued after four years in the absence of proof of approval u/s 151 - HELD THAT: - The additional legal ground was admitted as it required no factual inquiry and could be decided from the material on record. Once the validity of the notice was challenged for want of statutory approval, the Assessing Officer was required to produce the relevant record establishing that valid approval had been... ... ...

Registration of charitable trust u/s 12AB - genuineness of activities - Condonation of delay-sufficient cause Condonation of delay in appealing against refusal of registration under section 12AB, where the assessee had first pursued a fresh registration application on legal advice - HELD THAT: - The assessee's explanation disclosed no mala fides and constituted sufficient cause for the delayed appeal. Where the delay is non-deliberate and the explanation is reasonable, substantial justice... ... ...

Consideration of fresh evidence in first appeal - Coterminous appellate powers - Consideration of fresh documents furnished in appeal against additions and disallowances arising from discrepancies in purchases, vendor balances, sales, expenses and tax deduction at source HELD THAT: - The first appellate authority, whose powers are coterminous with those of the Assessing Officer, could examine the fresh evidence furnished by the assessee and, if necessary, obtain a remand report. Its rejection... ... ...

Reassessment based on search material of another person - Statutory approval for notice u/s 148 - Prior approval for notice u/s 148 Validity of reassessment where information concerning alleged non-genuine purchases emanated from material found during a search of another person, but the Assessing Officer followed the procedure under section 148A and obtained approval only for an order under section 148A(d) - HELD THAT: - Where the Revenue's own case was that the information relating to th... ... ...

Unexplained money - cash returned by builders - Undisclosed interest income from builder financing - Applicability of section 56(2)(x)(b) to builder-financing property acquisitions - Set-off of brought-forward long-term capital loss Unexplained money - cash returned by builders - Addition as unexplained money of cash allegedly returned by builders in property-financing transactions - HELD THAT: - Where the Revenue's own premise was that the alleged cash represented the excess of the recor... ... ...

Consequential assessment - scope of revision directions - Share premium-unexplained cash credit - Unexplained cash credits - unsecured loans - Source of source-statutory burden Consequential assessment - scope of revision directions - Share premium-unexplained cash credit - Addition of share premium as an unexplained cash credit in a consequential assessment confined by the directions in revision - HELD THAT: - The revision order required verification of the correctness of the share valuation... ... ...

Rectification of bona fide technical error in Form 10AB - Charitable registration and approval applications Rejection of applications for registration under section 12AB and approval under section 80G solely for incorrect selection of the applicable clause in Form 10AB - HELD THAT: - Having granted provisional registration on the basis of the same application, the CIT(E) ought not to have rejected the applications merely because an incorrect clause or code was selected. The assessee had expla... ... ...

Tax audit liability of kachha arhtia - Penalty for failure to obtain tax audit - Liability of a vegetable-market commission agent to tax audit and penalty for non-audit, where sale proceeds received and paid through the bank account were treated as turnover - HELD THAT: - The CBDT Circular recognises that, for a kachha arhtia acting solely for principals, sales effected on their behalf do not form turnover for tax-audit purposes and only gross commission is relevant. The Assessing Officer'... ... ...

Unexplained cash credit - sale proceeds shares alleged as accommodation entries - Consequential estimated commission expenditure Addition of sale proceeds of shares as unexplained cash credit, and the consequential estimated commission addition, on the allegation of accommodation entries - HELD THAT: - The purchase through banking channels, court-sanctioned amalgamation, Demat holding, exchange-based sale through registered brokers, payment of STT and receipt through banking channels were sup... ... ...

Validity of reassessment on investigation information - Unexplained cash credit-cash deposits claimed as cash sales Validity of reassessment on investigation information - Validity of reassessment initiated on information regarding large cash deposits in the assessee's bank accounts - HELD THAT: - The Assessing Officer had received specific information from the Investigation Wing, examined it and formed a belief that income had escaped assessment. As no material was produced to controvert... ... ...

Tax deduction at source on reimbursement of common area maintenance charges - Reimbursement of common area maintenance charges - Tax deduction at source Liability to deduct tax at source on common area maintenance charges paid as actual reimbursement without any mark-up - HELD THAT: - The Tribunal found that the payment represented mere reimbursement of common area maintenance charges on an actual basis and without any mark-up. Such reimbursement did not warrant deduction of tax at source. [P... ... ...

Prospective application of section 56(2)(x) to immovable-property acquisition Applicability of section 56(2)(x) to an immovable-property acquisition where the consideration, execution of the sale deed, delivery of possession and initiation of the registration process preceded its effective date, but registration followed thereafter - HELD THAT: - The material acts of the contracting parties were completed before 01.04.2017: the consideration had been paid, the binding sale deed executed, poss... ... ...

Unexplained money and unexplained investment in alleged builder-financing transactions - Alleged interest income from builder-financing arrangements - Stamp-duty valuation of under-construction immovable property Unexplained money and unexplained investment in alleged builder-financing transactions - Validity of additions for alleged differential cash received from, or paid to, builders in property transactions treated as builder-financing arrangements - HELD THAT: - Following the coordinate ... ... ...

Penalty u/s 270A - under-reporting of income - Bona fide explanation and full disclosure of material facts Penalty for alleged under-reporting arising from the claim of software-development expenditure as revenue expenditure rather than capital loss - HELD THAT: - The exclusion from under-reported income applies where the assessee's explanation is bona fide and all material facts necessary to substantiate it have been disclosed. Rejection of a claim in the quantum proceedings does not, by... ... ...

Transfer pricing of pre-conversion interest on compulsorily convertible debentures - Recharacterisation of debt financing in transfer pricing - Deductibility of pre-conversion interest on compulsorily convertible debentures Arm's length pricing of interest on compulsorily convertible debentures - Recharacterisation of debt financing in transfer pricing - Comparable uncontrolled transactions under the Other Method - Arm's length price of pre-conversion interest payable on compulsorily ... ... ...

Accrual of on-money from sale of flats - Project-completion method of accounting - Accrual of income upon transfer of title Taxability in AY 2013-14 of disclosed on-money received by project developers before execution of sale deeds, and entitlement to credit for the income offered in later assessment years - HELD THAT: - The Tribunal held that on-money forming part of consideration for sale of flats accrues as income when the sale deed is executed and title is transferred, and not upon mere ... ... ...

Related-party commission expenditure - addition u/s 40A(2)(b) - test of excessiveness and unreasonableness Disallowance of commission paid by a nutrition-products distributor to a proprietary concern of a related person on the basis of a benchmark drawn from the Ayurvedic-products business - HELD THAT: - The mere applicability of section 40A(2)(b) does not warrant an automatic disallowance. Excessiveness or unreasonableness must be determined with reference to the fair market value of service... ... ...

Bogus purchases through alleged accommodation-entry concerns - Estimated commission for arranging alleged accommodation entries Bogus purchases through alleged accommodation-entry concerns - HELD THAT: - Although the transactions were through banking channels and the concerns were registered with the GST authorities, the concerns were non-filers, summons to them remained unserved, and the ledger and account details claimed to have been furnished were not uploaded before the AO. Balancing thes... ... ...

Deduction for political contribution - bogus donation - denying deduction u/s 80GGC Deduction for a political-party donation denied u/s 80GGC - HELD THAT: - The finding that the donation was bogus rested on admissions made in the search proceedings. The statutory presumption concerning material found during search and the evidentiary value of statements recorded therein applied, and the assessee furnished no material to rebut the findings of the Assessing Officer and the appellate authority. ... ... ...