Surrendered amount as undisclosed income for penalty u/s 271AAB(1) - Search penalty notice-specification of statutory default - Limitation for search penalty proceedings Penalty for search-related undisclosed income - Levy of search penalty u/s 271AAB(1) on surrendered income without a finding that it satisfied the statutory definition of undisclosed income - HELD THAT: - A surrender made during search does not, by itself, establish undisclosed income for purposes of section 271AAB. The penal... ... ...

Extrapolation of unaccounted sales without incriminating evidence Addition for alleged unaccounted sales for AY2021-22 based on extrapolation of seized material relating to a later period - HELD THAT: - The seized loose sheets related to the period from 30-12-2021 to 09-02-2022, and the WhatsApp transaction information did not pertain to FY 2020-21 (AY2021-22). AO extrapolated that material to make the addition for the relevant year without supporting evidence. No addition can be made on extr... ... ...

Limitation for reassessment based on third-party search material - Aggregation of expenditure relating to distinct events for extended reassessment limitation Limitation for reassessment based on third-party search material - Validity of the reassessment notice for AY 2013-14 founded on material seized in a third-party search, having regard to the transitional limitation provision - HELD THAT: - Where reopening is founded on material seized from a third party, the applicable pre-amendment mec... ... ...

Jurisdiction u/s 153C - satisfaction regarding bearing of seized material on total income Validity of initiation of proceedings u/s 153C for AY 2020-21 in the absence of satisfaction that the seized material had a bearing on the assessee's total income for that year - HELD THAT: - Section 153C requires the jurisdictional Assessing Officer, after receipt of the seized material, to independently evaluate it and form satisfaction that it is likely to have a bearing on determination of total ... ... ...

Penalty u/s 270A - non-filing of return despite tax deduction at source on salary income - reasonable cause - Assessee disclosed salary income in response to reassessment notice - HELD THAT: - The Tribunal found that the omission to file the original return was unintentional and arose from severe personal and professional hardship. The salary income had already suffered tax deduction at source and was reflected in the departmental records, while the reassessment accepted the income returned by t... ... ...

Validity of proceedings u/s 153C - Deemed date of search u/s 153C - Section 153C proceedings after 1 April 2021 Validity of assessment under section 153C where the seized material was forwarded to the Assessing Officer of the assessee after 1 April 2021 - HELD THAT: - Under the proviso to section 153C(1), the deemed date of search in the assessee's case was the date on which the Assessing Officer of the searched person recorded satisfaction and forwarded the seized material to the Assess... ... ...

Unexplained money addition u/s 69A based solely on spreadsheet entries Applicability of the unexplained-money provision to alleged trading profits reflected only in a spreadsheet, where no money, bullion or other valuable article was found with the assessee - HELD THAT: - The unexplained-money provision requires that the assessee be found to be the owner of the requisite money, bullion, jewellery or other valuable article. Mere entries in a spreadsheet retrieved during search could not sustai... ... ...

Validity of Reassessment - mandatory disposal of objections by speaking order - Jurisdictional defect in reassessment proceedings Validity of reassessment where the assessee's objections to the recorded reasons for reopening were not disposed of by a separate speaking order before completion of reassessment - HELD THAT: - Upon receipt of objections to reopening, the Assessing Officer is required to dispose of them by a speaking order before proceeding with reassessment. Consideration of t... ... ...

Rectification of apparent mistake - retrospective insertion of Section 147A and Tribunal review jurisdiction Recall of the Tribunal's order quashing a jurisdictional Assessing Officer's reassessment notice on the basis of a subsequent retrospective amendment - HELD THAT: - The original decision had been rendered under the law then in force and in accordance with the prevailing jurisdictional legal position. The rectification power is confined to an error apparent when the order was ma... ... ...

Condonation of delay in BSNL VRS-2019 exemption appeals - Exemption of BSNL VRS-2019 ex-gratia compensation under section 10(10B) Condonation of delay in BSNL VRS-2019 exemption appeals - Condonation of substantial delay in appeals claiming exemption for BSNL VRS-2019 ex-gratia compensation - HELD THAT: - The Tribunal noted the consistent condonation of comparable delays in cases of similarly placed BSNL employees and followed the view that applications involving genuine hardship require a pr... ... ...

TP adjustment for notional interest on outstanding trade receivables from associated enterprises - assessee claims to be completely debt-free Whether a separate transfer pricing adjustment towards notional interest on outstanding trade receivables is warranted in the case of the assessee, which claims to be a debt-free company? - HELD THAT: - A completely debt-free assessee which incurs no interest cost on borrowed funds is not liable to a separate transfer pricing adjustment for notional int... ... ...

Additional claim for deduction under section 54F - Appellate power to admit fresh deduction claim Admissibility of the claim for deduction under section 54F, raised before the DRP after it had not been made in the return of income or before the Assessing Officer - HELD THAT: - The restriction on entertaining a fresh claim otherwise than through a revised return governs the power of the Assessing Officer and does not curtail the Tribunal's appellate power to admit an additional claim. Trib... ... ...

Exemption for BSNL retrenchment compensation - New exemption claim before appellate authority Exemption of BSNL retrenchment compensation under section 10(10B) - Eligibility of retrenchment compensation received under BSNL Voluntary Retirement Scheme, 2019 for exemption under section 10(10B) - HELD THAT: - The Tribunal noted that several Benches had treated compensation received by BSNL employees under the Scheme as retrenchment compensation eligible for exemption under section 10(10B). Since... ... ...

Unexplained money - cheque advance in proposed property transfer - alleged cash consideration in proposed property transfer Unexplained money - identified cheque advance - Addition as unexplained money of the cheque advance received during negotiations for transfer of the Noida property - HELD THAT: - For invoking section 69A, the assessee must be found to be owner of money whose nature and source remain unexplained. The payer, banking source and nature of the cheque credit as an advance towa... ... ...

Notice u/s 148 issued to deceased assessee - Submission to jurisdiction by legal representative HELD THAT: - A notice issued under section 148 to a deceased assessee is invalid unless the legal representative submits to the jurisdiction of the Assessing Officer without objection. Subsequent acceptance of the petitioner as legal heir did not cure the defect, since no notice was issued to the petitioner in that capacity and the petitioner had not submitted to jurisdiction. [Paras 6, 8, 9] Th... ... ...

Registration of charitable and religious trusts - Entitlement of a trust having both charitable and religious objects to registration under Section 12AA HELD THAT: - The statutory scheme does not differentiate between trusts established for charitable purposes and those established for religious purposes for registration. Income from property held under trust wholly for charitable or religious purposes is covered by the exemption provision; consequently, the presence of both charitable and re... ... ...

Deduction for industrial undertakings u/s 80IB - rubber contraceptives manufactured by assessee is an item covered by Entry Nos.27 and 28 of Eleventh Schedule of the Act being a rubber fitting - Consistency in grant of statutory deduction - HELD THAT: - Following MRF Limited [2025 (4) TMI 329 - MADRAS HIGH COURT] the Court held that the embargo under Entries 27 and 28 applies only to the products specifically described therein and not to every product made of rubber. Rubber contraceptives cou... ... ...

Statutory deeming fiction for pre-commencement undeclared foreign assets - Assessment in the assessment year succeeding the deemed acquisition Deemed acquisition of undeclared pre-commencement foreign assets - Assessment year u/s 72(c) of the Black Money Act - Assessment year for foreign assets acquired before commencement of the Black Money Act where no declaration was made under the declaration scheme - HELD THAT: - Section 72(c) creates a self-executing and conclusive fiction that an asset... ... ...

Commission payments - disallowance for non-deduction of tax - Incidental income of export undertakings Tax deduction at source on commission payments - Disallowance of commission payments for alleged failure to deduct tax at source under sections 195 and 40(a)(ia) - HELD THAT: - The Court found that the questions concerning the commission payments stood answered by a co-ordinate Bench decision in M/s.Puma Sports India P., Ltd. [2021 (4) TMI 93 - KARNATAKA HIGH COURT] as confirmed by SC [2021 ... ... ...

Transfer pricing comparables - exclusion as a factual determination - Appellate interference with factual findings Exclusion of Persistent Systems Ltd. and Larson & Tourbo Infotech Ltd. as transfer-pricing comparables - HELD THAT: - Selection or exclusion of comparables is a factual and data-driven exercise required to conform to Rule 10B. The Revenue failed to place material showing that the Tribunal's exclusion of the two companies was contrary to the settled legal position or vitiated ... ... ...