Interest included in a foreign arbitral award, once the award is enforced as a court decree, assumes the character of a judgment debt rather than "interest" under the Income-tax Act. The interest component, although labelled as interest in the award, was treated as part of the decretal damages and therefore outside the scope of taxable interest income in India. The related tax addition was deleted and the appeal succeeded.

Penalty proceedings under section 271D that are not initiated during an assessment or other proceeding fall outside the first alternative limitation period in section 275(1)(c). In that situation, the show-cause notice constitutes the latest point at which action to impose the penalty is regarded as initiated. The penalty order must therefore be made within six months from the end of the month in which that notice is issued. An order made after that deadline is time-barred and cannot sustain the penalty.

Intra-group technical and IT services are priced using a 10% cost mark-up, after crediting recoveries, because Safe Harbour margins did not apply for the relevant year. Actuarially measured pension and other employee-benefit liabilities arising from past service are accrued liabilities, while privilege-leave encashment remains deductible only on actual payment. Exempt-income expenditure requires limited recomputation excluding interest, considering only income-yielding investments, and capped at exempt income. Banking securities may be valued under a consistently followed recognised method reflecting real income; interest on non-performing advances or investments is not taxed where recovery is uncertain under prudential norms. Bad-debt prov.....

Section 167B's maximum marginal rate is inapplicable to income of a public charitable association assessed as an Association of Persons. Income from charitable activity for the public at large is to be computed at the normal tax rate applicable to an Association of Persons, rather than at the maximum marginal rate. Comparable treatment applies to registered trusts undertaking public charitable activity.

Rental income from let-out business premises cannot be increased by relying on rent from a commercial property at a different location without credible evidence that comparable local premises command higher rent; the estimated addition was deleted. Salary paid to a family member remains allowable where business services were rendered, payments were consistent, and the recipient offered the income to tax; the disallowance was deleted. Interest on unsecured business borrowings may exceed secured bank-loan rates where flexibility, short-term repayment terms, ancillary borrowing costs and commercial expediency establish that the rate is reasonable; the interest disallowance was deleted.

Article 5(2)(l) of the India-USA DTAA requires cumulative satisfaction of services being furnished or performed in India through employees or other personnel for the prescribed period before a service permanent establishment arises. Cost-to-cost reimbursements of expenditure initially incurred and later cross-charged without mark-up do not establish such a presence where the activity is performed remotely and the non-resident's employees or personnel have no physical presence in India. In those circumstances, no service permanent establishment or taxable income in India arises from the reimbursements.

Section 263 revision was sustained for fresh examination of interest capitalisation because the actual use of external commercial borrowings for working capital was not demonstrated and the Assessing Officer had made no enquiry; a board resolution stating the borrowing purpose was insufficient. Revision could not, however, reopen matters already examined or direct unfocused verification. Directions concerning tax deduction on interest paid to Government authorities were deleted as they amounted to a fishing or roving enquiry without an identified assessment error. Re-examination of miscellaneous expenditure and service-provider charges was also deleted because the Assessing Officer had examined the evidence and adopted a plausible view, including on the treaty's make available clause.

The Tonnage Tax Scheme confines relevant shipping income to profits from specified core and prescribed incidental shipping activities. Receipts from tender-document sales, contractor-delay damages, leased quarters, training fees, other operating income, and salary recoveries from resigned employees fell outside that scope, whereas scrap and empties sales, exchange differences, waste-oil sales, insurance claims, and provision reversals were treated as connected with dredging operations or not separately taxable. Service charges received differing treatment across assessment years in line with earlier determinations. Sponsorship for a maritime investment event qualified as business promotion expenditure because it had a direct business nexus .....

Time-barred DRP objections leave no valid objections for consideration. The AO must complete the assessment under section 144C(4)(b) on the basis of the draft order within the prescribed period and cannot await the DRP's disposal of belated objections. Statutory limitation binds both the assessee and the Revenue. A final assessment issued after that period because of such delay is barred by limitation, void ab initio, and liable to be quashed; merits need not be considered.

Penalty for alleged cash receipt cannot be imposed without demonstrative evidence establishing the actual cash transaction required for the cash-receipt restriction. Material showed a cash receipt only to a limited extent, while the balance was inferred conjecturally. Because the Revenue did not establish the factual basis for invoking section 269SS, deletion of the section 271D penalty was confirmed and its appeal dismissed.

Foreign-contribution disclosures under the FCRA and the income-tax return serve distinct reporting purposes and must be reconciled on substance rather than form. Foreign contributions and interest earned from them may be separately disclosed in audited accounts and the return even where the FCRA declaration includes both amounts. For processing under section 143(1), documents accompanying the return form part of the return; before making a mismatch adjustment, the CPC must provide an opportunity and consider the taxpayer's explanation in rectification proceedings. The adjustment treating the reporting difference as undisclosed income was deleted.

Business-expenditure deductibility after transfer of a branch undertaking depends on whether retained statutory assets and related expenditure continued to serve the business. The phrase "for the purpose of business" extends to acts incidental to carrying on business, but substantial legal and professional expenses cannot be allowed without complete particulars on their nature, purpose, and connection with business operations. Where those facts have not been examined, the disallowance requires fresh factual verification. The expenditure claim was remitted for de novo assessment, with the disallowance set aside for reconsideration in accordance with law.

The enhanced tax rate under section 115BBE, operative from 1 April 2017, applies prospectively and therefore covers surrendered income from excess stock and cash for Assessment Year 2019-20. As the amended provision was already in force for that year, surrendered income was taxable at the enhanced rate. Rectification under section 154 to correct the tax computation was sustained.

Section 24 requires the Initiating Officer to first issue notice to the alleged benamidar, disclose the reasons for believing the property is benami, and only then seek prior approval for provisional attachment. The Approving Authority must assess the notice and supporting material; approval obtained before notice is mechanical and contrary to the statutory scheme. Accordingly, the confirmed provisional attachment of the jewellery was set aside, while fresh proceedings in accordance with law and all available objections were left open.

Availability of an alternative statutory appellate remedy ordinarily warrants restraint in exercising writ jurisdiction, but does not create an absolute bar. Customs treatment of adult sex toys as prohibited goods may be challenged where no statutory or notification-based prohibition is identified and the classification is alleged to rest on subjective morality rather than objective law. Such allegations, given their effect on the right to trade, can justify writ scrutiny despite an appellate remedy. The merits of whether the goods are prohibited remain open.

Section 110(5) of the Customs Act limits provisional attachment of a bank account to six months, with only one further extension of up to six months based on written reasons communicated before the original period expires. A show-cause notice or pending adjudication cannot independently prolong attachment beyond that statutory maximum. Once the period ends, the attachment ceases by efflux of time and cannot be continued through administrative action. Continued freezing without statutory authority requires defreezing of the account, without limiting any other action permitted by law.

Foreign Trade Policy transitional arrangements for restricted gold imports may protect bona fide pre-notification transactions even where no irrevocable commercial letter of credit was established. An irrevocable commercial letter of credit secures payment through an independent banking mechanism upon shipping documents, but advance payment exceeding 90% of invoice value may provide the foreign seller with greater security. Mechanical insistence on a letter of credit can defeat the protective purpose of the transitional arrangement where traders and transactions are genuine. Notifications issued as delegated legislation ordinarily operate prospectively unless retrospective operation is statutorily authorised. Transitional benefits were extended to the specified import transactions.

Reasonable belief based on definite material existing at seizure is a precondition to seizing gold outside a Customs station and to shifting the statutory burden of proving its non-smuggled character. The absence of foreign markings, the gold's purity, and lack of evidence of foreign origin, illicit importation, or the manner of smuggling cannot support that belief; domestic-procurement documents must be rebutted through investigation. On these principles, confiscation was set aside and related penalties did not survive. Reliance on witness statements under Section 138B did not invalidate adjudication where no specific request for cross-examination had been made before the adjudicating authority.

Strict interpretation of the customs exemption required Disc Brake Units and Pole Wheels to fall clearly within the recognised railway-engineering meaning of a Train Protection and Warning System (TPWS). As components of a mechanical or pneumatic axle-mounted braking system, rather than signal-based TPWS equipment, they did not qualify for concessional duty. Official railway specifications prevailed over contrary technical opinions. Differential customs duty could be demanded only for Bills of Entry within the normal limitation period invoked under section 28(1); extending the demand beyond that period under section 28(4) exceeded the show cause notice. The exemption claim failed, while the demand was restricted accordingly.

Third-party standing extends to a holder of railway-underpass rights whose infrastructure may suffer adverse civil consequences from revived pipeline works. Way Leave Permission for overhead construction requires consideration of safety impacts, a due safety audit, and an opportunity to be heard where objections affect existing underpasses; non-compliance renders the grant irregular and illegal. An expired railway-land permission cannot be retrospectively renewed or preserved through a corporate insolvency resolution plan, as renewal requires fresh permission from the competent authority. Findings of fraud or collusion require proper material meeting the beyond-reasonable-doubt standard and cannot rest on the balance of probabilities.