Section 167B, which applies the maximum marginal rate where beneficiaries' shares are indeterminate, does not apply to public charitable trusts or organisations. Their income is chargeable at normal rates notwithstanding uncertainty regarding beneficiaries' shares. Application of this principle requires verification of the trust deed, rectification application, return of income and original assessment order. Following verification, the tax liability should be computed at normal rates and consequential relief granted where due.

Reassessment proceedings require the Assessing Officer to furnish recorded reasons on the taxpayer's request and dispose of objections before continuing the reassessment; non-compliance renders the reassessment unsustainable. For alleged bogus long-term capital gains, contemporaneous banking and demat records, contract notes, securities transaction tax evidence, and proof of share acquisition and sale can establish transaction genuineness. General investigation material or suspicion, without cogent evidence linking the taxpayer to accommodation entries or cash payments to an entry provider, cannot displace that evidence. Additions for unexplained share-sale proceeds and consequential alleged commission were deleted.

Tax deduction at source on leave travel concession reimbursements involving a foreign travel leg was not required where operative interim High Court directions restrained such deduction. Although the foreign travel component was not exempt, the assessee-bank was bound to comply with the interim directions and could not deduct tax contrary to them. Non-deduction during the period those directions remained operative therefore did not render the bank an assessee in default. Consequent demands for tax and interest were deleted.

Section 56(2)(x)(b), introduced by the Finance Act 2018 and applicable from Assessment Year 2019-20, operates prospectively. It cannot tax the difference between purchase consideration and stamp value where an immovable-property purchase agreement was executed in 2013 and substantial consideration was paid through banking channels before the provision was inserted. On those facts, the stamp-value-difference addition was deleted and the appellate order sustaining it was set aside.

Assessment issued in the name of an amalgamating company that had ceased to exist, after the Revenue had been informed of the amalgamation, constitutes a jurisdictional defect rather than a procedural irregularity. Section 292B does not cure this defect, and participation in assessment proceedings does not create an estoppel against law. The assessment was quashed as void ab initio on the additional jurisdictional ground, while the remaining merits grounds were left open as academic.

Diversion of income by overriding title arose where a collaboration agreement, banking records, ledger accounts and supporting material established the collaborator's entitlement to a share of flat-sale proceeds. That share did not accrue as the assessee's income because the agreement imposed an overriding obligation; procedural non-compliance, stamp-paper objections, lack of witnesses or doubts about expertise did not establish a fictitious income-diversion device. The resulting addition was deleted. Land acquisition cost could not be disallowed on the basis that it was absent from the books, since the books recorded the land and the purchase deed substantiated acquisition. The unexplained-source inference and related disallowance were deleted.

Outstanding trade-creditor additions may require verification rather than immediate treatment as unexplained cash credits where purchases, corresponding sales and stock are accepted, repayments are undisputed, and additional evidence supports genuine dealings. Additional evidence may be admitted where a supplier's records were unavailable because of fire, subject to assessment verification; no addition should follow if verification reveals no discrepancy. For purchase transactions subject to both tax deduction and collection rules, a buyer need not deduct tax where the seller has already collected tax at source before deduction. Accordingly, the related purchase-payment disallowance was deleted, while the creditor balance was restored for verification.

Under the transactional net margin method, turnover disparity alone does not justify excluding a functionally comparable entity; material impact or reasonably accurate comparability adjustments must be examined, and arm's-length-price adjustments must be confined to associated-enterprise transactions. Goodwill amortisation that is abnormal and non-recurring, and costs unrelated to associated-enterprise transactions, are excluded from operating costs. Import-duty adjustments and warranty, replacement and bad-debt deductions were accepted on consistent treatment, while verification-dependent provision reversals, write-backs and working-capital adjustments require factual examination. Long-term benefit alone does not make business-rights expen.....

Interest on capital borrowed for business purposes is deductible, subject to the restriction applicable until an acquired asset is first put to use. Use of land as a storage yard may be established through delivery and transport records, electricity bills and photographs; such evidence requires verification and cannot be rejected without contrary material. Construction reflected as capital work-in-progress on part of the land does not by itself show that the remaining land was not used for business. Where interest-free funds and borrowings form a common pool, investment is presumed to come from interest-free funds unless a direct nexus with interest-bearing borrowings is established.

Timely revised returns may correct the classification of an already disclosed F&O loss from speculative to non-speculative business loss, with consequential recomputation of its set-off and carry-forward. Such correction does not introduce a fresh or undisclosed loss merely because it changes the loss's character and tax treatment. A revised return filed within the prescribed period must be considered, while the legal sustainability of the reclassification and the treatment of F&O transactions remain subject to independent examination. The stated approach distinguishes revisions of disclosed losses from later claims that contradict an express option exercised in the original return.

Rule 37BA(1) allocates TDS credit to the deductee based on information furnished by the deductor. Where fixed-deposit interest is assessable in a spouse's hands through clubbing of income, Rule 37BA(2) permits transfer of the related TDS credit only if the deductee gives the prescribed declaration to the deductor and the deductor reports the deduction in the other person's name. Without that declaration, TDS continuing in the deductee's Form 26AS remains governed by Rule 37BA(1). Any discrepancy between TDS claimed and the credit reflected requires examination under section 199 and Rule 37BA.

Penalty for a charitable trust's failure to file a return under section 139(4A) should run only while voluntary filing remains legally available under section 139(4). Once the belated-return period expires, the trust has no statutory right to file a valid return voluntarily; a return filed after notice under section 148 follows an independent mechanism. Treating the default as continuing after voluntary compliance becomes impossible would require performance of an impossibility. Accordingly, penalty under section 272A(2)(e) is to be recomputed by limiting the default period to the last date for filing a belated return under section 139(4).

Confiscation of Indian currency alleged to represent sale proceeds of smuggled gold requires the department to prove every statutory condition. The burden-of-proof presumption applies only to specified or notified goods and does not shift the burden to a person holding seized Indian currency. Confiscation further requires proof of identified smuggled goods, their sale by a person with the requisite knowledge, and a direct, identifiable nexus between that sale and the seized currency; suspicion or an unsatisfactory explanation for cash is insufficient. Penalty likewise requires identified goods liable to confiscation and proof of the relevant knowing act or dealing. Remand cannot cure missing foundational facts or expand beyond show-cause notice allegations.

Customs valuation of CIF-imported fresh apples must begin with the declared transaction value, which may be rejected only on cogent evidence that it does not reflect the price actually paid or payable. The Department bears the burden of proving undisclosed additional consideration; an upstream FOB transaction, prepaid freight, Non-GMO certificates, and uncorroborated statements do not by themselves establish omitted freight, insurance, or a different CIF consideration. Disclosure of import documents and the CIF Incoterm precludes extended limitation absent deliberate collusion, wilful misstatement, or suppression intended to evade duty. Where valuation and extended limitation fail, enhancement, value-based confiscation, redemption fine, and related penalties cannot stand.

Forensic audit reports are not conclusive proof of fraud, but may support insolvency contribution liability when reliable documentary evidence substantiates their findings. Sale deeds, bank records, sub-registrar records and title-verification material supported findings that property transactions were accommodation arrangements used to raise loans. Loan proceeds substantially returned through sellers to the corporate debtor and related entities, establishing round-tripping intended to defraud creditors. Former management failed to rebut matters within its special knowledge. Ex parte determination remained valid because suspended directors received adequate opportunity to contest the proceedings and did not produce reliable contrary material. The fraudulent-transaction finding and consequential contribution direction were sustained.

Liquidation-process amendments apply prospectively unless expressly made retrospective. A liquidation order fixing the liquidation commencement date and directing the liquidator to explore sale of the corporate debtor as a going concern initiates the governing process; later auction and sale steps merely implement it. A subsequent amendment therefore cannot alter rights and obligations under the regime applicable on that date. The Tribunal set aside retrospective application of the amendment and remanded consequential reliefs and concessions for fresh consideration according to law.

Section 12A withdrawal through settlement is presented as an integral insolvency-resolution exit route, alongside resolution plans and liquidation. Where a viable settlement and repayment process exists, the resolution professional must independently and objectively consider extending CIRP, including use of the period up to the 330-day outer limit where appropriate, rather than prematurely seek liquidation. A resolution professional cannot rely on Registry advice regarding relief or privately consult an individual Committee of Creditors member instead of convening the Committee. Such non-independent decision-making renders a liquidation application under Section 33(1) legally unsustainable. The liquidation order was set aside, and CIRP was restored to explore settlement-based withdrawal.

Service of notice and opportunity of hearing were treated as adequate where the director knew of the investigation, sought time to respond, then neither replied nor updated the address despite repeated service attempts. No breach of natural justice arose from non-cooperation. Non-realisation of export proceeds triggered a statutory presumption that reasonable recovery steps had not been taken. As the director was in charge during the contravention and did not establish realisation or efforts to obtain information from the Official Liquidator, company liquidation did not remove liability. The penalty was sustained but confined to the amount already deposited, considering the elapsed period and liquidation.

Provisional attachment proceedings require service of relied-upon documents and a fair opportunity to respond. Acknowledged receipt of the notice and supporting material, particularly where no contemporaneous complaint challenges the acknowledgement, undermines a later claim of non-supply. Permitted inspection of records and sufficient time to file a reply may satisfy natural justice requirements. Subsequent requests for additional copies or further time can be treated as delaying conduct where the material has already been served and access to records was available.

Municipal employees temporarily suspended their strike after the administration committed to pay two months' pending salaries by September 15 and arrange clearance of remaining salary arrears within 30 days. The employees had sought payment of salary arrears, increased GST grants to the civic body, and release of the outstanding difference in GST grants. A committee is to pursue the pending GST grant proposals at the government level.