Board circulars cannot curtail statutory penalties applicable to fake-invoice transactions. False GST records, invoices issued without actual supply, contradictory admissions, cancelled registrations, and vehicle details inconsistent with goods transport may support penalties for creating fake documents and furnishing false returns with intent to evade tax. A taxpayer's statement under statutory summons may be relied upon without corroboration where it was not obtained by duress or coercion. Taxpayers claiming input tax credit must prove actual receipt of goods and suppliers' tax payment; additional documents cannot be relied on at the appellate stage without compliance with Rule 112. Penalties for unsupported input tax credit and false documents were restored, with bank-balance appropriation and attachment maintained.

Section 76 requires every person collecting an amount as tax to remit it to the Government, irrespective of registered status, composition scheme, exempt supplies, or the passing of input tax credit. Tax invoices and bank records evidencing consideration inclusive of tax establish actual collection for this purpose. Input tax credit is available only within statutory time limits; GSTR-3B returns filed after the prescribed deadline cannot validly be used to utilise time-barred credit. Debits through the electronic credit ledger for such credit are irregular and liable to disallowance, with consequential tax demand, interest, and equivalent penalty.

Portal downtime preventing IRN generation at dispatch did not justify a goods-detention penalty where the commercial invoice, e-way bill and delivery note accurately disclosed the goods, value and tax particulars, and the IRN was generated later. Transportation under a delivery note operated as a safeguard where an invoice could not be issued on removal. Section 129 was treated as addressing clandestine movement and deliberate non-disclosure, not a technical reporting lapse without intent to evade tax; the penalty was therefore set aside. Payment through DRC-03 to secure release of detained goods and vehicle, made under economic duress, did not estop a substantive challenge. The amount paid was refundable with statutory interest after verification.

Mandatory transit-documentation rules require invoices and e-way bills that correspond to goods physically carried at the time of movement. Invoices supplied only after detention, particularly without matching e-way bills, do not cure a movement unsupported by compliant records. Where no authentic, pre-existing ownership records identify the goods at interception, the transporter may be treated as a person other than the owner for penalty purposes. Undocumented garments may be valued using product quality, fabric specifications and prevailing wholesale-market averages where matching invoices are unavailable and buyers cannot be traced; such valuation must rest on objective and rational market indicators.

GST detention penalties can be sustained where invoices, e-way bills and transport documents do not correspond with goods physically verified in transit. Documentary existence alone does not establish coverage of the transported goods; supplier-wise and aggregate weight discrepancies require reconciliation with contemporaneous electronic and transport records. Unsupported challenges to weighment, including those lacking timely objection, independent reweighment or technical evidence, do not negate such discrepancies. Cancellation and regeneration of e-way bills for the same invoice also require explanation. Cumulative material discrepancies established intention to evade tax, resulting in restoration of the original tax and penalty order.

Supply, erection, testing and commissioning of fire-protection equipment constitute a composite supply where naturally bundled. Once permanently installed and not removable without substantial dismantling, the system is immovable property; transfer of goods with its installation constitutes a works contract, treated as a supply of services under Heading 9954. Excavation and backfilling do not qualify the contract for the predominantly earthwork rate where earthwork is not predominant. Classification or concessional IGST treatment under omitted entries or a rescinded notification is unavailable.

Recovery of professional fees for GST refund representation depended on proof of direct engagement, authority and acknowledgement of the agreed fee. A power of attorney, appearances before the GST authority and correspondence established the representative's authority and the company's fee obligation. The claimed condition that fees became payable only on receipt of the refund lacked contractual support, and non-joinder of chartered accountants did not defeat the claim. The agreed fee was recoverable, with pendente lite and future interest fixed at 6% per annum from suit filing until realisation.

Foreign sales commission paid to non-resident agents for services performed entirely outside India is not chargeable to tax in India where the agents undertake no activity in India, maintain no business connection or establishment there, and receive the commission abroad. As tax deduction at source applies only to income chargeable in India, remittances in those circumstances do not attract withholding. Chartered Accountant certificates and supporting records may establish the absence of an Indian income nexus or establishment.

Consequential assessments made under a subsisting revision order are tested against that order's directions and the action taken to implement them; an alleged defect in the original assessment alone does not invalidate the consequential assessment. For unabated search assessments, additions require incriminating material, which may comprise seized accounting data and corroborative statements rather than only the warrant or panchanama. Cash land advances remain unexplained credits where taxpayers do not establish payer identity, source, confirmations, or underlying transaction records; book entries and audited disclosures are insufficient against seized evidence of unaccounted cash. Telescoping against income offered by another group entity requires a proven factual nexus and assurance against double relief.

Tax deductions and transfer-pricing treatment turn on statutory conditions rather than administrative quantification or unsupported adjustments. Expenditure incurred at an approved in-house R&D facility qualified for weighted deduction despite incomplete Form 3CL quantification; delegated rules could not restrict the statutory measure of eligible expenditure. For exempt-income disallowance, objective satisfaction from the accounts is required before applying Rule 8D, and interest-free funds exceeding investments preclude interest disallowance. Pre-amendment CSR expenditure remained deductible, whereas CSR spending subject to the later statutory Explanation was not deductible as business expenditure, although eligible donations could qualify.....

Interest paid for delayed remittance of TDS is not expenditure incurred wholly and exclusively for business under section 37(1), notwithstanding its compensatory character. A compulsory-acquisition capital-gains exemption requires examination of acquisition documents, compensation and statutory conditions, rather than rejection solely because it was omitted from the return. Transfer-pricing applicability and arm's length pricing of captive-power supplies require separate analysis. Section 14A and Rule 8D disallowance depends on the expenditure actually considered and cannot be resolved merely through the own-funds presumption. Project-monitoring and supervision costs may remain revenue expenditure despite capitalisation in accounts. Book-profit adjustments under section 115JB must be independently calculated without importing Rule 8D.

Compulsory conversion of debentures and the absence of cash redemption may affect comparable selection or adjustments, but do not by themselves justify treating an express pre-conversion coupon as having a nil arm's-length price. Recharacterisation requires facts showing that economic substance differs from legal form, or that reliable pricing is unavailable; no uncontrolled transaction supported a nil return under the Other Method. The nil-ALP adjustment was deleted, without establishing any universal arm's-length coupon rate. The related interest disallowance was also set aside for lack of an independent finding on business nexus or use of funds. Interest-limitation and statutory-interest computations require consequential verification, recomputation, and identification of the charging provision.

Arm's length pricing for intra-group support services cannot be fixed at nil merely because adequate benefit from the expenditure is not established. Where existing benchmarking is rejected, the price must be determined through the most appropriate prescribed method and objective comparables; agreements, invoices, allocation workings and personnel material require cumulative assessment. Closely linked transactions benchmarked under TNMM cannot be selectively separated without proper basis. Evidence of actual operational support and business nexus supports deduction where no capital, personal or prohibited purpose is shown. The transfer-pricing adjustment and alternate disallowance were deleted. Interest under section 234C must be computed on tax due on returned income and recomputed accordingly.

Lump-sum lease premium paid to acquire leasehold land is capital expenditure, not a deductible revenue expense. Leasehold rights in land do not qualify as intangible assets or similar business or commercial rights eligible for depreciation; consequently, neither amortisation of the premium nor depreciation on those rights is available. For a resident Indian enterprise, overseas branch profits remain includible in Indian taxable income where applicable DTAAs use the expression "may be taxed"; the relevant clarification is not restricted to non-business income. Worldwide income must be computed under the Income-tax Act, with credit available for taxes paid in the source jurisdiction under the applicable provisions.

Revisionary jurisdiction requires an assessment to be both erroneous and prejudicial to Revenue; a possible need for further enquiry, without identifying an indispensable omitted enquiry, an untenable assessment view, and resulting prejudice, is insufficient. Employee stock-option discounts, including liability crystallising on scheme modification, constitute employee-remuneration expenditure rather than capital or share-premium shortfall. A revision cannot rely on a ground absent from the show-cause notice. MAT book-profit adjustment for exempt-income expenditure requires independent identification of book-debited expenditure and cannot mechanically adopt Rule 8D. Deemed dividend requires legal shareholder membership in the recipient conce.....

For a private discretionary trust taxable at the maximum marginal rate, surcharge on income-tax payable must be calculated by reference to the applicable slab rate. This requires recomputation of surcharge liability using the relevant income-tax slab rather than a calculation detached from that rate structure. The computation principle applies where the trust's status as a private discretionary trust subject to the maximum marginal rate is undisputed.

Erroneous inclusion of interest on tax-free bonds as taxable income was treated as a mistake apparent from the record, rather than a fresh claim requiring a revised return. Interest specifically exempt under section 10(15)(iv)(h) could not be taxed merely because it had been mistakenly offered as taxable income in the return. The Tribunal directed that interest on IIFCL and REC tax-free bonds be treated as exempt, with consequential refund and admissible interest.

Transfer-pricing comparability is determined by the real operational character of margin items, functional and risk profiles, consistently applied persistent-loss and aggregate related-party transaction filters, and economic circumstances such as turnover and extraordinary events. Under TNMM, working-capital differences require analysis based on average receivables, payables and inventory; delayed associated-enterprise receivables do not warrant notional interest where a debt-free enterprise bears no interest cost and no financing benefit is established. Medical-product distribution may be benchmarked under the Resale Price Method using comparable gross margins, while adjustments must be limited to associated-enterprise international transa.....

Reassessment based on third-party information was invalid where the recorded reasons alleged escaped income but the assessment disallowed a materially different penny-stock share-sale loss, demonstrating no independent application of mind and borrowed satisfaction. A claimed short-term capital loss on sale of shares remained allowable where contract notes, banking and broker records, demat records, and investment-account entries evidenced exchange-traded transactions through a registered broker, and no defect in that evidence was identified; general penny-stock allegations were insufficient. The Revenue's challenge to deletion of the loss disallowance was dismissed, while proceedings for another assessment year were remitted for fresh adjudication.

Benami status of agricultural land transactions was established through evidence that the ostensible holder lacked financial capacity, bank records did not support funding for the purchases or later transfers, and an initial sworn statement identified the beneficial owners. Subsequent transfers to family members of the beneficial owners and an unexplained reduction in stated consideration corroborated that statement; an unsupported retraction did not displace it. Restrictions on transfer of Scheduled Caste land to persons of other categories formed part of the surrounding circumstances. The properties remained subject to confirmed provisional attachment, and the challenges failed.