TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2023 (1) TMI 1523
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....non/short deduction of taxes, the proceedings under section 263 of the Act were initiated for immediately preceding year (AY 2016-17) and after considering the submissions filed by the Appellant, the said proceedings were dropped. 2. On the facts and in the circumstances of the case and in law, learned PCIT has erred in exercising the revisionary powers under section 263 of the Act and partly setting aside the order passed by learned AO under section 143(3) of the Act dated 19/12/2019. 3. On the facts and in the circumstances of the case and in law, learned PCIT has erred in holding that the assessment order passed by learned AO is erroneous as well as prejudicial to the interest of the Revenue, without appreciating the fact that assessment order under section 143(3) of the Act was passed by learned AO after making necessary inquiries. 4. On the facts and in the circumstances of the case and in law, learned PCIT has erred in holding that learned AO has failed to make necessary enquiries, despite the fact that the details relating to compliances of tax deduction at source ('TDS') were asked by learned AO and same were furnished by the Appellant and....
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....essee company had defaulted in making timely deposit of employee's contribution to ESIC and PF within the stipulated time and hence the same are not allowable under section 36(1)(va) of the Act and secondly the assessee during the year under consideration had debited a sum of Rs. 76.24 crores towards advertisement expenditure, legal and professional fees and service charges, however, as per form 3CD report, TDS u/s 194J for professional and technical services was only deducted on payment of Rs. 18.85 crores and accordingly on the remaining payment of Rs. 57.39 crores no TDS was deducted and hence the same was to be disallowed under section 40(a)(ia) of the Act. Since the AO did not examine these aspects during the course of assessment proceedings, the assessee was asked to explain as to why the order passed by the AO should not be held to be prejudicial to the interests of the revenue. In the 263 proceedings, the assessee placed its submissions on record and Principal CIT accepted the assessee's contention regarding late deposit of PF/ESI and agreed that the same were filed within the due date prescribed and accordingly initiation of 263 proceedings on this ground were dropped. How....
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....deducted under the India UK DTAA on account of 'make available' clause in respect of technical services rendered by the non-resident entity. Further, with respect to legal and professional expenses, the counsel for the assessee submitted that TDS was deducted at the rate of 10% on most of the payments made and only in some of the cases TDS was not deducted, being below the threshold. In response, DR placed reliance on the observations made by the Principal CIT in the 263 order. 5. We have heard the rival contentions and perused the material on record. In our considered view, this is not a case where there is an absolute lack of enquiry made by the AO in respect of TDS payments. As submitted above, the AO issued notice asking the assessee to provide details of TDS payments and in response to such query, the assessee gave a reply which was duly considered and admitted by the AO and no disallowance under section 40(a)(ia) of the Act was made during the course of assessment proceedings. On the merits of the case, we observe that the assessee during the course of 263 proceedings had submitted that almost all payments had been subject to TDS and a reconciliation of payments and TDS th....
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.... has different opinion in the matter. It is only in cases of "lack of inquiry", that such a course of action would be open.__ From the aforesaid definitions it is clear that an order cannot be termed as erroneous unless it is not in accordance with law. If an Income-tax Officer acting in accordance with law makes a certain assessment, the same cannot be branded as erroneous by the Commissioner simply because, according to him, the order should have been written more elaborately. This section does not visualise a case of substitution of the judgment of the Commissioner for that of the Income-tax Officer, who passed the order unless the decision is held to be erroneous. Cases may be visualised where the Incometax Officer while making an assessment examines the accounts, makes enquiries, applies his mind to the facts and circumstances of the case and determines the income either by accepting the accounts or by making some estimate himself. The Commissioner, on perusal of the records, may be of the opinion that the estimate made by the officer concerned was on the lower side and left to the Commissioner he would have estimated the income at a figure higher than the one determi....
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....e, it was not the case where there was absolute lack of enquiry or non-application of mind by the AO. On the aspect of late deposit of PF/ ESI, the Principal CIT dropped the 263 proceedings accepting the submissions made by the assessee. With respect to TDS applicability on various payments, the assessee gave a detailed Chart regarding payments made towards advertisement expenditure, legal and professional fees and service charges, which, according to Principal CIT was not satisfactorily explained by the assessee. At appropriate places, the assessee also obtained lower withholding tax certificate from the payee and deducted taxes at the rates mentioned in the certificate. As noted in various judicial precedents highlighted above, the Principal CIT, on perusal of the records, may be of the opinion that the estimate made by the officer concerned was on the lower side and left to the Commissioner he would have estimated the income at a figure higher than the one determined by the Income-tax Officer. That would not vest the Commissioner with power to re-visit the entire assessment and determine the income himself at a higher figure. In our view, this is not a case where no enquiry has ....