Tax appeal allowed: AO exceeded s.144C DRP mandate by introducing new findings and recharacterising non-resident receipts as permanent establishment income

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....ITAT allowed the taxpayer's appeal, holding that the AO exceeded jurisdiction by recording new findings in the final assessment order contrary to the DRP directions. The tribunal observed the DRP merely required elaboration of existing observations, not de novo re-adjudication, and therefore the AO's subsequent recharacterisation of receipts as business income and the conclusion that the non-resident had a permanent establishment in India (with 25% of receipts attributed thereto) were beyond the scope of the draft assessment and DRP mandate. Those findings are quashed as ultra vires the statutory process; the AO's modifications in the final order are set aside and the appeal is allowed.....