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Transfer-pricing aggregation prevails where intra-group services cannot receive nil valuation without reliable comparable uncontrolled transaction data.
Transfer-pricing adjustments for intra-group services and fixed-asset purchases were deleted because closely linked international transactions had been benchmarked under an accepted aggregated Transactional Net Margin Method. Selectively segregating intra-group services and assigning a nil arm's length price under the Comparable Uncontrolled Price Method was unsustainable without reliable comparable uncontrolled transactions; evidence also established receipt of services and tangible benefits. Treaty-based relief for dividend distribution tax may be raised as an additional claim in appellate proceedings without filing a revised return where required to determine correct tax liability. The claim was admitted for fresh adjudication after final resolution of the pending substantive legal issue.
Genuine political contributions are required for Section 80GGC deduction; banking-channel payment alone cannot validate a sham donation claim.
Deduction for political contributions under Section 80GGC is unavailable where the claimed payment forms part of a bogus-donation arrangement. The recipient political party had not filed statutory contribution reports from FY 2013-14 and did not meet conditions associated with exemption under Section 13A. Material concerning the party's sham donation mechanism, applied consistently with a coordinate-bench decision involving donations to the same party in the same year, showed that the contribution was not genuine. Payment through banking channels alone did not establish eligibility for the deduction.
Trust deed non-registration alone cannot defeat Section 12AB registration; defects require reconsideration after adequate rectification opportunity.
Registration under Section 12AB cannot be refused solely because a trust deed is unregistered. Non-registration, by itself, does not justify rejection; the relevant legal requirements concerning the trust's immovable property and any registration before the Charity Commissioner require reconsideration. The trust must also receive an adequate opportunity to rectify any identified defects before a fresh decision is made. The rejection was set aside and the registration application was restored for fresh adjudication.
Search-related bogus sales assessments remain valid, but taxable profit is limited to supported gross-profit estimation.
Search-related assessments under Section 153C were valid because seized material pertained to the assessee and was connected with alleged bogus sales entries routed through searched entities. Sales through those entities were treated as bogus after search evidence and enquiries established that they provided accommodation entries. However, a reduced commission-rate addition lacked support from segmental comparables and was excessive because the sales were treated as bogus only once. Taxable profit was therefore confined to gross profit estimated at 1% or the gross-profit rate disclosed in the books, whichever was higher.
Audit report filing timing is procedural when Form 10B was available before return processing, preserving the exemption claim.
Exemption under section 10(23C)(vi) should not be denied solely because the audit report in Form 10B was not furnished with the return where it was uploaded and available to the Assessing Officer before processing under section 143(1). Although furnishing Form 10B is mandatory, its timing and mode of filing are procedural. The report should therefore be considered in determining the exemption claim, and the assessment should be rectified accordingly.
Suppressed sales additions fail when GST verification finds no clandestine removal, unrecorded sales, or independent corroborative evidence.
Estimated profit additions based solely on alleged suppressed sales cannot stand where the underlying GST appellate findings establish no evidence of clandestine removal, unrecorded sales, interstate movement, unaccounted raw materials, sale proceeds, transportation, or other corroborative material. As no independent evidence supported the income-tax addition beyond the GST information, the estimated addition for alleged undisclosed profit was deleted.
Timely availability of Form No. 10 preserves charitable accumulation exemption claims, subject to verification of substantive conditions.
Belated furnishing of Form No. 10 does not by itself bar a charitable trust's exemption claim for accumulated income under Section 11(2) if the prescribed information was available to the Assessing Officer before completion of assessment. Although furnishing the form is mandatory, compliance is sufficient when it is on record before return processing. The exemption claim must nevertheless be reconsidered on its merits, including verification of the factual conditions governing accumulation.
Bogus purchase additions are limited to embedded profit when sales stand accepted and actual procurement remains unrefuted.
Where recorded sales are accepted and actual procurement is not disproved, an addition for alleged bogus purchases is confined to the profit element embedded in those purchases rather than the entire purchase amount; profit estimation at 12.5% was treated as justified. A difference between Form 26AS contract receipts and recorded turnover does not constitute taxable income in the year of receipt where it represents contractual advances carried as liabilities and recognised as income in the subsequent year, supported by corresponding tax deducted at source treatment. The Revenue's contested additions were therefore not restored.
Timely availability of Form 10B before return processing preserves charitable trusts' exemption claims despite delayed filing.
Delayed furnishing of Form 10B does not disentitle a registered charitable trust from exemption for application of income where the audit report is available to the assessing authority before processing of the return under section 143(1). The requirement is met when the report is furnished before return processing. A rule requiring a declaration to opt out of exemption under section 10B was distinguishable because that declaration directly affects the return and assessment from the outset. The applicable principle is that an audit report submitted before completion of assessment supports an exemption or deduction claim; accordingly, the trust's exemption claim was sustained.
Unverified supplier purchases warrant only embedded-profit addition where sales, stock records and bank payments remain accepted.
Purchases from an unverified supplier may warrant taxation only of the profit or savings embedded in those purchases where corresponding sales, stock records, quantitative movement and bank payments are accepted. Supplier non-verification, cancelled GST registration and failure to establish procurement from the named supplier support an estimated addition, but prior-year rates do not automatically apply without identical facts. For low-margin ferrous and non-ferrous metals trading, disclosed net-profit margins and comparable decisions supported restricting the addition to 2 per cent of disputed purchases and deleting the balance.
Interim cash release preserved disputed funds without determining ownership, source or tax liability pending income-tax proceedings.
Interim release of cash to the Income Tax Department, secured by an indemnity bond and retention in an auto-renewable fixed deposit with a nationalised bank, preserved the amount pending determination of its source, tax liability and ownership. The arrangement did not finally decide the claimant's rights or create an adverse finding. Questions concerning entitlement to the cash remain open for determination in the pending income-tax proceedings, and interference with the interim arrangement was declined.
Reassessment notices relying on the Shah Commission Report require fresh consideration alongside challenges to reassessment orders.
Subsequent judicial developments on the evidentiary relevance of the Shah Commission Report require reconsideration of challenges to reassessment notices where that report may have formed the basis for recorded reasons to believe. The challenges to the notices should be heard together with substantive challenges to reassessment orders for the same assessee and assessment years. Whether the recorded reasons relied solely on the Shah Commission Report or also on other material remains open for determination. The prior dismissal of the writ petitions was set aside, and the notice challenges were directed to be reconsidered afresh with all contentions kept open.
Penalty deletion based on quashed assessments was set aside after the assessment-quashing orders ceased to operate.
Deletion of penalty solely because the underlying assessment orders had been quashed could not stand after the orders quashing those assessments were set aside in connected appeals. The Tribunal had not examined the penalty proceedings on their merits or addressed the other legal issues. The penalty matter therefore required fresh adjudication on the merits and applicable legal issues, and the Tribunal's order deleting the penalty was set aside and remitted for reconsideration.
Consideration of assessee replies is mandatory before reassessment orders; non-compliance requires fresh Section 148A proceedings.
Reassessment proceedings under Section 148A require consideration of the assessee's replies and material before an order is passed under Section 148A(d). Where the replies were not addressed and no effective opportunity was given to submit further pleadings and documents in response to Section 148A(b) notices, the Section 148A(d) orders and consequential notices cannot stand. The proceedings were set aside and restored to the Section 148A(b) stage for a fresh opportunity and reconsideration in accordance with law.
Effective service of statutory notices required: assessment and consequential proceedings reset where notices reached only former auditor email addresses.
Statutory notices for scrutiny, information and final show cause sent solely to a former statutory auditor's email addresses did not provide the assessee an effective opportunity to respond. As the assessee neither received the notices nor participated in the resulting assessment, a justice-oriented approach required fresh consideration after a sufficient and reasonable hearing opportunity. The ex parte assessment, consequential demand and penalty proceedings were set aside, with the matter restored to the stage for replying to the scrutiny notice.
Alternative statutory appeal bars writ challenge where draft assessment objections were not filed before the Dispute Resolution Panel.
Failure to file objections to a draft assessment order before both the Dispute Resolution Panel and the Assessing Officer permits completion of assessment on the draft order under the statutory scheme. Where an appeal against that assessment is available under the tax statute, the alternative remedy is treated as efficacious and writ jurisdiction under Article 226 is not warranted. The stated position is that the writ petition is not entertainable, while the taxpayer may pursue the statutory appeal and raise all merits there.
Form No. 4 refund processing requires timely credit despite statutory interest exclusion under the settlement scheme.
Refunds determined under Form No. 4 under the Direct Tax Vivad Se Vishwas Scheme, 2024 require an effective processing mechanism and timely credit. The stated absence of a processing module and engagement in time-barring proceedings were noted as inadequate explanations for prolonged non-credit. Although the Scheme excludes statutory interest under the Income-tax Act, that exclusion does not justify administrative delay. Further time was granted, and the matter was listed for a later date; the order was also sent to CBDT for verification and appropriate systemic action on recurring refund delays.
Reassessment sanction requirements under section 151 remain undisturbed after challenge to reopening notice is not entertained.
Reopening assessments requires approval or sanction from the competent authority under section 151, including where notice is issued within four years and limitation is considered with the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act. The text records that the Supreme Court declined to entertain the special leave petition and dismissed it, leaving the High Court reasoning on the validity of reopening undisturbed.
Prior-period expenditure crystallising during the relevant year remains allowable, making penalty challenges linked to deleted additions consequentially unsustainable.
Prior-period expenditure is allowable where the liability crystallises during the relevant year. Special leave petitions challenging the application of this principle were dismissed because the issue was no longer open to debate, following earlier decisions concerning the same question. Special leave petitions against penalty imposed for concealment in relation to additions later deleted were also dismissed, as the penalty proceedings were consequential to the underlying additions.
MPID Act overriding effect and Special Court jurisdiction over seized assets shape depositor-protection escrow and settlement issues
Overriding effect of the MPID Act, the Special Court's jurisdiction over seized assets, and the release of funds to escrow for depositor protection are identified as the central legal subjects. The text also concerns conflicts between special statutes and the legal validity of settlement arrangements. It indicates that these issues arose in connection with an order of the Bombay High Court, without providing the underlying legal reasoning or factual basis.