Transfer-pricing adjustment for intra-group management, sales and support services was deleted where agreements, allocation workings, invoices and supporting material demonstrated that the services were rendered and supported business operations. The services were not established as shareholder or stewardship activities. An arm's length price of nil under the Comparable Uncontrolled Price Method lacked comparable uncontrolled transactions and cogent benchmarking. The entity-level operating margin, after the service costs, remained within the accepted arm's length range.

Compensation received under an award or agreement made pursuant to the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 is exempt from income tax under Section 96. Accordingly, capital gains arising from such acquisition compensation fall outside taxable income under the Income-tax Act, 1961. Disclosure of the gain in the return without claiming the exemption does not prevent recognition of the statutory non-liability, requiring the assessment to be reconsidered on that basis.

Notice under Section 148 issued to a deceased assessee is invalid where the legal representative promptly objects and does not submit to the assessing jurisdiction. Intimating the assessing authority of the death and reiterating the objection does not constitute participation in assessment proceedings. Section 159 of the Income-tax Act does not cure proceedings initiated through a notice addressed to the deceased person. Consequently, the reassessment initiation, consequential assessment and demand are invalid, although proceedings may be commenced against the legal representative under Section 159 if otherwise permissible.

Approval under Section 151 is a mandatory jurisdictional safeguard before issuing a reassessment notice under Section 148. As an "other document" under Section 282A(1), the approval must bear the approving authority's manual or digital signature. A DIN, electronic transmission, or printed name and designation does not cure an unsigned approval or establish compliance with that requirement. Section 292BC did not apply where the approval pre-dated its effective date. An unsigned sanction therefore invalidates the reassessment notice and consequential reassessment proceedings for want of jurisdiction.

Demand under Section 156 requires a final assessment under Section 143(3) determining the sum payable; a draft order that merely proposes variations, preserves objections, and is not followed by a final order cannot support demand or consequential penalty proceedings. Section 292B cannot retrospectively convert such a draft order into a final assessment. Further, the Section 144C draft-assessment procedure is unavailable where the Transfer Pricing Officer makes no variation to returned income, since the assessee is not an eligible assessee under Section 144C(15)(b). The draft assessment and resulting fiscal and penalty actions were therefore invalid.

Reassessment jurisdiction requires material with a direct and live nexus to the alleged escapement of income. Allegations concerning persons connected with a foreign investor, without reference to the taxpayer or its investment transaction, are remote and cannot support a reason to believe that share capital or premium represented escaped income. An inference that the taxpayer routed its own funds through an unrelated foreign investor is also unsustainable on human probabilities. Employees' PF and ESIC contributions deposited by the return-filing due date remained deductible under the law prevailing when the notice was issued; a later contrary ruling cannot retrospectively establish escapement. Neither ground validly supported reopening, requiring annulment of the reassessment notice.

Reassessment under Sections 147 and 148 lacks jurisdiction where its recorded reasons rely solely on additions or disallowances in subsequent assessment years that binding appellate orders have overturned. Deletion of the Revenue's position on broken-period interest, premium amortisation on held-to-maturity securities, non-performing asset interest, perpetual debt instrument interest, bad debts and wage-revision provision removes the factual foundation for a reason to believe that income escaped assessment. The reopening notice and rejection of objections are therefore liable to be quashed because the basis for reassessment no longer exists.

Revision of an assessment under section 264 cannot be rejected as non-maintainable for lack of legal-heir proof when material supplied to establish legal-representative status has not been considered. Recognition of the legal representative and a personal hearing are required before fresh determination on merits. Where reassessment was made ex parte because notices went to a deceased taxpayer's email address before the heir knew of the proceedings, the assessment and consequential penalty actions were stayed pending disposal of the revision application and for four weeks thereafter.

Service of a show cause notice and an opportunity of hearing are mandatory before the Transfer Pricing Officer determines arm's length price under Section 92CA(3) read with Section 92C(3). Information notices issued during transfer-pricing proceedings do not substitute for the statutory notice requiring the assessee to respond to a proposed adjustment. Non-service of that notice deprives the assessee of the required hearing and invalidates the arm's length price determination. The determination must therefore be set aside and reconsidered only after proper notice and hearing.

Section 11(1A) permits a charitable trust to claim capital-gains exemption where sale consideration from a trust-held capital asset is used to acquire another capital asset. Investment of the entire proceeds in a bank fixed deposit for at least six months qualifies as such utilisation; a two-year deposit therefore satisfies the condition. Revision under Section 264 can correct a bona fide omission in a return that causes overassessment, rather than being limited to mistakes by tax authorities. Compliance issues under the Gujarat Public Trust Act or doubts about charitable activity do not displace this standalone exemption where the trust has valid registration and disclosed all material facts. Excess tax is refundable with applicable interest.

Pending rectification of denial of tax exemption for non-filing of Form 10-B requires merits-based consideration before a writ challenge to the resulting tax demand is adjudicated. Where the application was acknowledged but absent from the electronic system and no merits order existed, the competent authority must place it on record, decide it according to law, and communicate the decision. The tax demand must conform to that determination.

Full GST liability paid before demand under the IGST head, instead of the applicable CGST and SGST heads, does not by itself attract interest or penalty where the error was an inadvertent clerical mistake. Section 77(2) of the CGST Act does not apply unless tax was paid under a genuine misconception that an intra-State supply was inter-State. Incorrect remittance between tax heads, without any unpaid tax liability, therefore does not warrant interest or penalty solely on account of the mistaken tax-head classification.

Assessment of tax liability under Section 73(9) cannot be made before expiry of the due date for filing the relevant financial year's annual return. For financial year 2022-23, an order made before 31 December 2023, when that was the annual-return due date, lacked authority. The assessment was set aside, with fresh assessment permitted only after notice and an opportunity of hearing.

Parallel State GST assessment and rectification proceedings cannot be sustained where Central GST authorities have already adjudicated identical issues for the same assessment period. The pendency of an appeal against the earlier Central GST adjudication does not permit duplicate State GST proceedings on those matters. State GST assessment and rectification orders covering the same issues and period are therefore unsustainable.

Section 75(7) bars an adjudicating authority from confirming tax or penalty beyond the amounts specified in the show cause notice. Where the notice proposed tax of Rs. 96,000 and penalty of Rs. 20,000, confirmation of an equivalent Rs. 96,000 penalty exceeded the proposed penalty. Such excess confirmation breaches the mandatory statutory limit and is without jurisdiction. The penalty confirmation beyond the notice was invalid and was set aside in favour of the assessee.

Service-tax demand orders require consideration of the relevant work contracts and agreements where those materials are placed on record. Complete contractual material must be examined, with parties permitted to produce further relevant documents and given an opportunity of hearing before a fresh determination. The existing demand order was set aside for reconsideration by the competent Commissioner on the complete record.

GST registration cancellation may be challenged through the statutory appeal under Section 107 within the prescribed period. Writ jurisdiction is generally unavailable where that alternate remedy remains unavailed and the appeal period has expired. Departure from the alternate-remedy rule requires exceptional circumstances; absent such circumstances, delay beyond the statutory appellate period does not justify writ interference.

Under the CGST Act, 2017, sections 73 and 74 contain no prohibition on a single show-cause notice covering multiple financial years; consolidated GST notices are therefore legally maintainable. Appellate disposal after a personal hearing confined to condonation of delay, without an opportunity to address the merits despite a request, breaches principles of natural justice. The appeal requires reconsideration after a proper merits hearing, while the validity of consolidated notices remains unaffected.

GST does not apply to a penalty recovered from an employee for stock shortage arising during employment. Section 7 read with paragraph 5(e) of Schedule II applies only where a supply of services exists, including an agreement to refrain from, tolerate, or undertake an act. A stock-shortage penalty imposed within the employer-employee relationship is not consideration for any supply of goods or services between a supplier and recipient. The recovery therefore remains outside the scope of taxable supply under GST.

GST registration cancellation may be set aside in writ jurisdiction where rigid application of the statutory appeal limitation would deprive a taxpayer of the constitutional right to carry on trade and commerce. Although the appellate authority cannot condone delay beyond the prescribed period, restoration does not create a corresponding right for the State and supports legitimate business operations and revenue collection. Registration was restored subject to filing pending returns and paying outstanding dues, interest, penalty and late fees.