AI Drafter 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (8) TMI 747
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....d by it as well as on slot arrangement. For the year under consideration, the assessee filed its return of income on 01/11/2022 declaring a total income of Rs. 4,18,900/-. The assessee has claimed that its income is not chargeable to tax as per the provisions of the India-Germany DTAA. The return filed by the assessee was selected for scrutiny and statutory notices under section 143(2) as well as section 142(1) of the Act were issued and served on the assessee. During the assessment proceedings, the assessee was asked to show cause as to how its income is exempt as per Article 8 of the India-Germany DTAA and as to why the same should not be treated as income in respect of freight from feeder vessels. In response thereto, the assessee stated that it is in the business of shipping and carries cargo between ports in India and ports outside India. The assessee stated that in the course of its shipping business, it transports cargo on vessels owned/leased/chartered/pooled by it. It was further stated that its vessels do not call at the Indian ports on account of various reasons, such as the size of the vessels being too large to enter the Indian ports which have shallow drafts or the de....
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.... (supra) is not applicable to the facts of the present case, as in that case the India-UK DTAA was involved, which specifically provides that the income from the operation of the ships includes the income derived from the rental on a bareboat basis of ships, if such a rental income is incidental to the income described in paragraph 1 of the Article. However, this is not the case of the assessee as no such provision existed in Article 8 of the India-Germany DTAA. The AO further held that the Revenue has not accepted the decision of the Hon'ble jurisdictional High Court in Balaji Shipping (UK) Ltd (supra) and in assessee's own case and has filed Special Leave Petition before the Hon'ble Supreme Court, which is pending consideration. The AO further placed reliance upon the assessment order passed in assessee's own case for the assessment year 2007-08. The AO further held that the assessee is carrying out its business of operation of ships in India through its agent M/s Hapag Lloyd India Ltd, which is concluding the contract of cargo transported by issuing the bill of lading, which is legally binding on the assessee. Accordingly, the AO concluded that M/s Hapag Lloyd India Ltd is a Per....
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....law, the learned Assessing Officer ('AO') based on the directions of Dispute Resolution Panel ('DRP') erred in assessing total income at Rs. 12,59,81,610 as against total income of Rs. 4,18,900 as per return of income of the Appellant. 2. On the facts and circumstances of the case and in law, the learned AO based on the directions of DRP erred in holding that freight income of Rs. 167,41,69,408 from transportation of cargo through feeder vessels is not eligible for benefit under Article 8 of India Germany DTAA 3. On the facts and circumstances of the case and in law, the learned AO based on the directions of DRP erred in refusing to follow the binding decision of jurisdictional High Court of Bombay (Hon'ble HC') / Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (Hon'ble 'ITAT') in the Appellant's own case for AY 2005-06 to AY 2011-12, AY 2013-14 to AY 2018-19 and AY 2021-22 wherein the Hon'ble HC / Hon'ble ITAT has consistently held that freight income of Appellant from transportation of cargo through feeder vessels is eligible for benefit under Article 8 of India-Germany DTAA. The appellant prays that the learned AO be direc....
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....ut prejudice to ground no. 9, on the facts and circumstances of the case and in law, the learned AO failed to appreciate that TDS of Rs. 1,66,359 is appearing in the Form 26AS of HLIPL, the same is claimed by the appellant since the corresponding income was offered and charged to tax in the hands of the appellant for AY 2022-23. 10. The learned AO failed to appreciate that the similar issue of grant of TDS appearing in the Form 26AS of HLIPL is covered by the order of Hon'ble 'ITAT in the Appellant's own case for AY 2016-17, AY 2017-18, AY 2018-19 and AY 2021-22. The Appellant prays that the learned AO be directed to grant full credit for TDS and to re-compute its tax liability accordingly. Levy of Interest 11. On the facts and circumstances of the case and in law, the learned AO erred in levying interest of Rs. 1,61,42,214 under section 234B of the Act. 12. On the facts and circumstances of the case and in law, the learned AO erred in levying interest of Rs. 9,31,763 under section 234D of the Act. Grant of Interest under section 244A of the Act 13. On the facts and circumstances of the case and in law, the ....
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....have noticed that the Coordinate Bench of ITAT in assessee own case in ITA No. 4535/Mum/2023 (supra) has decided this issue in favour of the assessee. To appreciate the arguments of the parties, we are extracting, the operative portion of the order of Coordinate Bench of ITAT as under:- 9. We have considered the rival submissions and perused the material available on record. We find that the coordinate bench of the Tribunal in assessee's own case in Hapag Lloyd AG v/s DCIT, in ITA No. 972/Mum./2021, for the assessment year 2017-18, vide order dated 31/01/2022 after considering the decision of the coordinate bench rendered in assessee's own case for the assessment year 2007-08, which has been affirmed by the Hon'ble jurisdictional High Court, observed as under:- "018. The above order of the coordinate bench was subject matter of challenge before the honourable Bombay High Court in Income Tax Appeal number 602 of 2014, (which is reproduced at paragraph number 5 of the order of the honourable High Court in Income Tax Appeal number 1362 of 2017 for assessment year 2009 - 10 which is decided on 6 January 2020, placed at paper book page number 4 - 6). The honourable Hig....
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....ectfully following the decisions of the honourable High Court and coordinate benches in assessee's own case, we allow ground number 2 - 4 of the appeal holding that freight charges of Rs. 172,195,959/- earned by assessee from transportation of cargo through feeder vessels is also eligible for benefit of Article 8 of the Double Taxation Avoidance Treaty between India and Germany. 022. In view of our decision in ground number 2 - 4 of the appeal, no adjudication is required on ground number 5 - 7 and 12 - 14 of the appeal of the assessee, hence those grounds become infructuous and hence dismissed." 10. We find that the Hon'ble jurisdictional High Court, following its decision rendered in assessee's own case for the assessment year 2007-08 in ITA No. 602 of 2014, dismissed the appeal filed by the Revenue in the assessment years 2009-10 and 2011-12 vide orders dated 06/01/2020 and 07/01/2020 passed in ITA No. 1362 of 2017 and 1376 of 2017, respectively. The learned DR could not show us any reason to deviate from the aforesaid decisions rendered in assessee's own case and no change in facts and law was alleged in the relevant assessment year. The issue arising in the p....