2019 (9) TMI 377
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....d 08.08.2019. Grounds taken in these appeals of Revenue are as under: ITA No.- 5793/Del/2016 "1. Whether the Ld. CIT(A) has erred in facts and in law in holding that no addition can be made in the assessment completed u/s 153A of the Income Tax Act, 1961, if no incriminating documents was found. 2. Whether on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, CIT(A) has erred both in facts and law in deleting the addition of Rs. 1,27,44,100/- made by the Assessing Officer to the income of the assessee company." 3. The appellant craves leave, to add, alter or amend any ground of appeal raised above at the time of the hearing." ITA No.- 5439/Del/2016 "1. The Ld. CIT(A) has erred in law and on facts in deleting the addition of Rs. 88,44,657/- made by the AO with regard to penalty / damages charged by Hero Honda. 2. The Ld. CIT(A) has erred in law and on facts in not considering that the damages /penalty are not allowable as per Income Tax Act,1961. 3. The Ld. CIT(A) has erred in law and in facts in not considering that the carrier trucks used by the assessee are insured and all the damages/penalty are to be borne by ....
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....company failed to substantiate its claim of expenses during the course of assesseemnet proceedings. 2. The appellant craves leave, to add, alter or amend any ground of appeal raised above at the time of hearing. ITA NO.- 3696/Del/2016 1. On the facts and in the circumstances of the case in law, the Ld. CIT(A) has erred in quashing the reassessment proceedings initiated u/s 115WG of the IT Act thereby deleting addition of Rs. 1,04,74,439/- made by the AO on account of expenses under clause B section 115WB(2) of the I.T. Act without appreciating that the scheme of section 147 of the I.T. act, 1961 cannot be extended to the proceedings u/s 115WG of the Act. 2. The appellant craves, leave or reserving the right to amend, modify, alter, add or forego any ground(s) of appeal at any time before or during the hearing of this appeal." ITA No.- 3697/Del/2016 1. On the facts and in the circumstances of the case in law, the Ld. CIT(A) has erred in quashing the reassessment proceedings initiated u/s 115WG of the IT Act thereby deleting addition of Rs. 77,84,163/- made by the AO on account of expenses under clause B section 115WB(2) of the I.....
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.... High Courts and SLPs/appeals before Supreme Court have been specified. Representation has also been received that an anomaly in the said circular at para 5 may be removed. 2. As a step towards further management of litigation. it has been decided by the Board that monetary limits for filing of appeals in income-tax cases be enhanced further through amendment in Para 3 of the Circular mentioned above and accordingly, the table for monetary limits specified in Para 3 of the Circular shall read as follows: S.No. Appeals/SLPs in IT matters Monetary Limit (Rs.) 1. Before Appellate Tribunal 50,00,000/- 2. Before High Court 1,00.00.000/- 3. Before Supreme Court 2.00.00,000/- 3. Further, with a view to provide parity in filing of appeals in scenarios where separate order is passed by higher appellate authorities for each assessment year vis-a-vis where composite order for more than one assessment years is passed. para 5 of the circular is substituted by the following para: "5. The Assessing Officer shall calculate the tax effect separately for every assessment year in respect of the disputed issues in the case of every assesse....
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....or filing the appeal before the Appellate Tribunal have been enhanced to Rs. 50 lakhs through amendment of paragraph 3 of aforesaid Circular No. 3/2018 dated 11.07.2018. Aforesaid Circular No.17/2019 Dated 08.08.2019 has been issued to revise / enhance the monetary limit of tax effect to Rs. 50,00,000/- as compared to the monetary limit of Rs. 20,00,000/- vide CBDT's earlier Circular No. 3/2018 dated 11.7.2018; without, however, in any way amending any other material part of the aforesaid CBDT Circular dated 11.07.2018. More particularly, there is nothing in the aforesaid recent CBDT Circular No. 17/2019 dated 08.08.2019 to infer that direction contained in aforesaid earlier CBDT Circular No. 3 of 2018 dated 11.07.2018 to withdrawn / not press existing appeals (below specified monetary limit of tax effect) already filed by Revenue in ITAT; does not continue to be applicable. Therefore, all the provisions of aforesaid earlier Circular No. 3/2018 dated 11.7.2018 shall apply mutatis mutandis to recent aforesaid CBDT Circular No. 17/2019 dated 08.08.2019 also. Accordingly, the direction in aforesaid earlier Circular dated 11.07.2018 to withdraw / not press Revenue's appeal with tax eff....
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....n tax involved is below certain threshold limits, and announced its policy decision not to file, or press, the appeals, before this Tribunal, against the appellate orders favourable to the assessee in the cases in which overall tax effect, excluding interest except when interest itself is in dispute, is Rs. 50,00,000 or less. What it means, in plain words, is that when a Commissioner (Appeals) gives the taxpayer tax relief of upto Rs. 50 lakhs in an appeal in an assessment year, the matter ends there and the relief so granted by the Commissioner (Appeals) cannot be challenged before this Tribunal, that when this Tribunal gives the taxpayer relief of upto Rs. 1 crore in an appeal in an assessment year, the matter ends there and the relief so granted by the Tribunal cannot be challenged before the Hon'ble High Court, and that when Hon'ble High Court gives relief of upto Rs. 2 crore to the taxpayer in an appeal in an assessment year, that relief cannot be challenged before Hon'ble Supreme Court. These monetary threshold limits for filing of appeals by the income tax authorities do not take into account interest and other corollaries of the tax demands being confirmed such as penal....
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.... 8'h August 2019 i^ not a standalone circular and it is required to be read with the old circular no. 3 ot 2018 which is what it seeks to modify. This circular, according to the learned counsel, only enhances the monetary limits and gives further relaxation. He urges us not to read the circular in a manner so as to nullify the underlying approach and object of reducing litigation. Shri Soparkar, learned Senior Advocate, submits that all that the present circular does is to modify the monetary limits and nothing more, and, therefore, it cannot be treated to follow any other approach other than the approach followed in the old circular. The old circular, beyond any dispute or controversy, categorically applied to the pending appeals as on the date of issuance of circular. Shri Tushar Hemani, learned Senior Advocate, points out that the circular dated 8th August 2019 only gives further relief not only in terms of the monetary limits but also in terms of the manner in which the application of circular to orders dealing with more than one year is to made. Shri S N Divetia, learned counsel for the assessee, submits that unlike in the cases of earlier CBDT circulars, which used to be ....
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....d accordingly, the table for monetary limits specified in Para 3 for the Circular shall read as follows: S.No. Appeals/SLPs in Income- tax matters Monetary Limit (Rs.) 1 Before Appel late Tribunal 50,00,000 2 Before High Court 1,00,00,000 3 Before Supreme Court 2,00,00,000 3. Further, with a view to provide parity in filling of appeals in scenarios where separate order is passed by higher appellate authorities for each assessment year vis-a-vis where composite order for more than one assessment years is passed, para 5 of the circular is substituted by the following para: "5 The Assessing Officer shall calculate the tax effect separately for every assessment year in respect of the disputed issued in th ecase of every assessee. If in the case of an assessee, the disputed issueds arise in more than one assessment year, appeal can be filed in respec of such assessmen tyear or years in which the tax effect in respect of the disputed issues exceeds the monetary limit specified in para 3. No appeal shall he filed in respect of an assessment year or years in which the tax effect is less than the monetary limit specified in para 3....
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....IT vs. Prateek Buildtech India P. Ltd. (vi) Order dtd 21/08/2019 of "D" Bench, of ITAT, Delhi in ITA Nos.- 5628/Del/2016 and 1481 & 5961/Del/2016 for A.Y. 2007-08 and 2006-07 & 2013-14 in the case of ITO vs. Jain Steel Corporation and ACIT vs. Jindal Poly Films Ltd. (B.2.2) A perusal of the aforesaid recent CBDT Circular dated 08.08.2019 shows that minimum threshold limit of tax effect for filing of Special Leave Petition ('SLP' for short) in Hon'ble Supreme Court has also been enhanced to Rs. 2,00,000/-. Vide separate orders, each dated 16.08.2019, Hon'ble Supreme Court has already dismissed the following SLPs filed by Revenue earlier; since the tax effect involved in each of these cases was less than Rs. 2,00,000/-: (i) Special Leave Petition (Civil) Diary 25086/2019 in the case of CIT v/s M/s Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd. (Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 06-02-2019 in ITA No. 1650/2016 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Bombay) (ii) Special Leave Petition (Civil) Dairy No. 26373/2019 in the case of DCIT vs. EB Holding Company Ltd. (Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 25-01-2019 in WP ....
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....32 Copy to: 1. Pr. DCIT (L&R) for kind information & necessary action 2. Database Cell for uploading on irsofficeronline." (B.3) In view of the foregoing discussion, and respectfully following the precedents mentioned in foregoing paragraphs (B.2), (B.2.1) and (B.2.2) of this order; and, in view of the aforesaid clarification issued by CBDT and mentioned in foregoing paragraph (B.2.3) of this order; we hold that the revised / enhanced minimum threshold limit of tax effect of Rs. 50,00,000/- vide aforesaid recent CBDT Circular No. 17/2019 dated 08.08.2019 is applicable not only for appeals to be filed by Revenue in future; but also for appeals already filed by Revenue in ITAT. Accordingly, in view of the aforesaid recent CBDT Circular No. 17/2019 dated 08/08/2019; the direction in aforesaid earlier Circular dated 11.07.2018 to withdraw /not press Revenue's appeal with tax effect below Rs. 20,00,000/-; is now to be read as direction to withdraw / not press Revenue's appeal with tax effect below revised / enhanced limit of Rs. 50,00,000/-. By necessary implication, therefore, all existing appeals in ITAT, having tax effect below the revised / enhanced limit of Rs.....
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