Reassessment may cover issues subsequently noticed under the Explanation to Section 147, but only where the reassessment results in an addition or modification on the issue that formed the basis for reopening. Additions arising solely from later verification and enquiries cannot be sustained when no addition is made on the information underlying the Section 148 notice. The stated position requires a nexus between the reopening foundation and an operative reassessment addition before other subsequently detected issues may be assessed.

Section 153D prior approval is a mandatory safeguard in search assessments, requiring an independent, quasi-judicial examination of draft assessment orders, seized material, enquiries and taxpayer replies. Approval spanning multiple assessees and assessment years without showing consideration of relevant records or incriminating material is characterised as mechanical. For non-abated years, additions based on financial material and Form 3CD rather than incriminating material further indicate non-application of mind. Section 292BC applies only to approvals granted on or after 1 April 2021 and does not validate earlier approvals. Mechanical Section 153D approval vitiates assessments framed pursuant to it.

Exemption under Section 11 remains available where a trust registered under Section 12A pursues education, medical relief and relief of the poor, despite earning rental income and licence fees from trust property. These objects fall outside the residual general-public-utility category subject to the restrictive proviso to Section 2(15). Substantial or systematically collected property receipts do not constitute trade, commerce or business without an independent commercial venture, particularly where they fund charitable objects. In the absence of changed objects, non-genuine activities, diversion of funds, or disputed application of income, the proviso does not apply and additions based on denial of exemption are deleted.

Composite letting principles treat receipts for ancillary amenities, furniture and fixtures as income from house property where the facilities are contractually inseparable from, co-terminus with and incapable of independent enjoyment apart from the commercial premises. Separate agreements or apportioned consideration do not change that character where the dominant intention is to enable beneficial occupation; the statutory deduction for house-property income consequently applies. Interest on refinanced borrowings remains deductible where records trace the refinancing to earlier loans used to acquire the property. Continued borrowing from the original lender is not required, although limited verification of fund utilisation and arithmetic may be necessary.

Registration under section 12AB cannot be refused merely because a charitable institution established otherwise than under a written instrument does not furnish a trust deed or memorandum of association. Rule 17A(2) permits such an institution to provide documents evidencing its creation or establishment, including statutory registration records. The relevant enquiry remains charitable objects, genuineness of activities and compliance with laws material to those objects. Where no independent adverse finding exists under section 80G(5), approval cannot be denied solely because section 12AB registration was refused; the approval must be granted.

Penalty proceedings for concealment under section 271(1)(c) require the Assessing Officer to record satisfaction during assessment proceedings, forming the jurisdictional basis for initiation. The deeming provision in section 271(1B) applies only where an assessment or reassessment contains an addition or disallowance and a clear direction to initiate penalty. Where reassessment accepts the returned income without adjustment, a statement that penalty proceedings will be initiated separately is merely prospective and does not establish present satisfaction. Notices issued under section 274 only after assessment completion cannot remedy invalid initiation. Explanation 5A may deem concealment for penalty purposes but does not cure the absence of valid jurisdictional initiation.

Comparable Uncontrolled Price method is appropriate where reliable internal and external data for identical raw materials show that associated-enterprise prices are no higher than independent-supplier and relevant import prices. Consistent acceptance of that method on unchanged transaction and business facts supports its continued application, while replacing it with the Transactional Net Margin Method would breach consistency. Even under TNMM, a diversified manufacturer and service provider without segmental financial data is not functionally comparable to an entity manufacturing only optical fibre. The assessee's arm's length price determination was upheld and the transfer-pricing adjustment was deleted.

Offshore supply profits from equipment, integrated designs and spares were not taxable in India where manufacture and supply operations occurred abroad, title passed on FOB shipment, consideration was received abroad, and no Indian fixed place or supervisory permanent establishment carried on those supplies. The force of attraction rule did not apply without a relevant permanent establishment. Supervisory activities exceeding the treaty threshold created a supervisory permanent establishment; receipts effectively connected with it were taxable as net business profits rather than fees for technical services, avoiding gross taxation and double taxation. Project-specific designs and drawings supplied without any right to commercially exploit intellectual property constituted sale of copyrighted products, not royalty or technical services.

Section 90(2) permits an assessee to choose, independently for each assessment year, the more beneficial treatment under the Income-tax Act or an applicable tax treaty. Where treaty treatment under Article 13 of the India-Mauritius DTAA is elected, capital gains exempt from tax in India do not enter the domestic computation mechanism for set-off of brought-forward losses under Section 74. Short-term capital losses validly determined and carried forward under the Act in earlier years therefore need not be adjusted against treaty-exempt capital gains and remain available for carry forward to subsequent years.

Delayed remittance of deducted TDS may be compounded where an initially approved application was not paid within time because of bona fide financial constraints, including company liquidation. Deposit of the full compounding amount pursuant to a judicial direction justified extending the payment period until the deposit date and reviving the earlier approval. Rejection of the compounding application was set aside, with the prior compounding approval made effective up to the date of payment, subject to additional costs.

Registration under Section 12A cannot be directed solely on unpleaded and unsubstantiated oral assertions of charitable activity. Claims concerning implementation of a charitable healthcare project require supporting material on record or legally admissible additional evidence, with formal notice to the Revenue. Registration granted for later years does not establish eligibility for earlier relevant years, which must be assessed from the activities actually undertaken and evidence available for those years. The registration issue therefore requires fresh determination on the existing record and any legally admissible additional evidence.

Section 153A's extended ten-year period for search-related reassessment is computed from the end of the assessment year relevant to the search year, unlike the six-year period under section 153A(1)(b), which covers years immediately preceding that assessment year. The search assessment year is therefore included as the first year of the ten-year block. For a search conducted in financial year 2023-24, Assessment Year 2024-25 was the first year and Assessment Year 2015-16 the tenth year. Assessment Year 2014-15 fell outside the permissible period, rendering the reassessment notice time-barred and liable to be quashed.

Conditional condonation of delay may be justified where alleged non-service of the assessment order, a prima facie challenge to reassessment jurisdiction, and disputed computation of tax on total turnover rather than taxable income require merits examination. A 570-day delay in filing an appeal before the CIT(A) was condoned subject to costs, and the appeal was restored for an independent decision on all available grounds without rejection on limitation.

Refund implementation was addressed where repeated applications remained unanswered and the refund was not granted for an inordinate period. The taxpayer was permitted to submit a computation of the balance interest to the Assessing Officer. The Assessing Officer was required to examine that computation and pay any interest found due within the stipulated period.

Transfer-pricing comparables may be excluded where the proposed company's functions, products or end-use materially differ from those of the tested party, particularly where reliable segmental data is unavailable. Bilcare Ltd. was unsuitable because its diverse pharmaceutical packaging and service activities differed from paper-based aseptic food-and-beverage packaging, and current-year segmental data was absent. Karur KCP Packaging Ltd. was also unsuitable because its kraft paper and polypropylene bags served the cement industry and differed in products and end-use. These fact-specific exclusions do not raise a substantial question of law absent perversity.

Transactional net margin method aggregation is examined in relation to closely linked domestic and international transactions for arm's length price determination. The issues include whether entity-level aggregation is permissible where domestic manufacturing results downstream from imports from associated enterprises, and whether the Tribunal's order is affected by perversity. The High Court admitted the appeal on the specified substantial questions of law and listed it for hearing.

A complainant whose information led to reassessment proceedings has no locus standi to be impleaded in writ petitions challenging those proceedings. The Assessing Officer's action is the subject of challenge, and the Assessing Officer alone must defend it; the complainant has no independent right to participate in the writ proceedings. The impleadment application was rejected. The writ petitions were listed for further hearing, while status quo on recovery and penalty proceedings was maintained until replies were filed.

Delay in filing a corrected return to add the prefix "M/s." to an assessee-firm's name may be condoned under Section 119(2)(b) where the original return was timely and the correction is purely clerical. No change to the PAN, the firm's constitution, returned income, tax liability, or substantive claims arises from such correction, and no prejudice is caused to the Revenue. The condonation power should advance substantial justice where genuine hardship would otherwise result and should not be denied on a hyper-technical procedural ground. The corrected return should be treated as validly filed and processed according to law.

Revision under Section 264 remains maintainable after the limitation period for the available appellate remedy has expired, provided no appeal or delay-condonation application is pending. Section 264(4) bars revisional jurisdiction only where an appeal lies and remains capable of being filed within the subsisting appeal period, or where a required waiver of appeal has not been given. The revisional authority cannot decline jurisdiction solely because an appellate remedy was originally available. Any merits observations made while incorrectly treating the revision as non-maintainable should not influence fresh consideration on merits.

Look Out Circulars issued to protect India's economic interests may be judicially reviewed for legality, relevance of material and manifest arbitrariness, but courts cannot substitute their assessment for the competent authority's subjective satisfaction or reassess the qualitative or quantitative sufficiency of supporting inputs. Greater restraint applies in fiscal and economic matters unless the material is nonexistent, wholly speculative or manifestly untenable. Allegations concerning trade-based money laundering, hawala-linked transactions, over-invoiced exports, fraudulent export incentives, bogus purchases, fake invoices and fraudulent input tax credit constituted relevant and substantial material. The Look Out Circular therefore remained sustainable, and the order invalidating it was set aside.