Rejection of audited books under section 145(3) requires specific defects in the accounts and cannot rest solely on non-compliance with sample third-party notices issued under section 133(6). Where the Assessing Officer verified the supplied particulars and the receipts of an HR outsourcing provider substantially comprised salary and statutory reimbursements as pass-through costs, treating total gross receipts as income and applying a fixed profit rate lacked a rational basis. The estimated addition was therefore arbitrary; deletion by the Commissioner (Appeals) was sustained and the Revenue's appeal was dismissed.

TDS credit transferred following amalgamation must be granted to the amalgamated entity where the related income is substantively assessed in its hands and the amalgamating entity has not claimed that credit. Section 199 read with Rule 37BA applies despite the TDS appearing under the amalgamating entity's PAN. Where the credit was claimed in the original and revised returns and subsequently allowed, refund interest under section 244A(1) is payable for the full applicable period. Delay cannot be excluded under section 244A(2) merely because the Assessing Officer wrongly attributes default to the taxpayer.

Limitation for an assessment giving effect to appellate directions runs from receipt or passing of the appellate order by the specified senior income-tax authorities, not from delivery to the Departmental Representative. Where no receipt date is recorded, internal transmission of a batch of orders does not establish earlier receipt, and the assessment may be treated as timely. Unexplained purchase expenditure cannot be added solely because suppliers did not answer summons when supplier existence, VAT verification, stock records, and corresponding sales support the transactions. The deletion of the purchase addition was sustained, while the Revenue's appeal and the assessee's cross-objections were dismissed.

Commercial vehicles purchased during the stipulated period were treated as eligible for higher depreciation. For in-house research and development, deduction beyond expenditure approved by the prescribed authority requires verification of the difference between approved and actual expenditure before consequential allowance. Where interest-free funds exceed investments yielding exempt income, investments may be presumed to have been made from those funds, supporting deletion of the related disallowance under rule 8D(2)(iii). Club-facility expenses incurred in individuals' names or of a personal nature do not satisfy the requirement of being wholly and exclusively for business purposes and remain disallowable.

Leave fare concession payments for travel involving a foreign leg, made while an interim High Court order restrained tax deduction at source, did not attract assessee-in-default consequences under section 201(1). The Tribunal's approach followed a coordinate bench view that an employer-bank could not be treated as in default for failing to deduct tax during the restraint's operation. The employer-bank's appeal was allowed.

Treaty exemption for foreign salary requires verification of the taxpayer's Tax Residency Certificate, Korean tax return, tax-payment evidence and other supporting documents before relief under Article 15(1) of the India-Korea DTAA can be allowed. Salary earned by a non-resident for services performed outside India is not ordinarily income earned in India merely because an Indian employer paid it or deducted tax. The exemption claim was restored for limited verification and fresh adjudication. Delay in filing the first appeal was condoned because medical emergency and difficulty accessing the e-filing portal did not indicate gross negligence or deliberate inaction.

Section 270A distinguishes under-reporting from misreporting, with different statutory consequences. For a misreporting penalty, the Assessing Officer must specify the precise applicable clause in both the notice and penalty order; a generic reference leaves the taxpayer unaware of the charge and invalidates the proceedings. Where divergent Tribunal views support the taxpayer's adopted legal position on interest from enhanced compensation, that position cannot by itself amount to misreporting. The penalty for alleged misreporting was therefore deleted and the appeal allowed.

Reassessment based on Investigation Wing information may rest on tangible material where it specifically links alleged accommodation entries to the taxpayer's loan transaction, creating a live nexus and demonstrating independent application of mind rather than borrowed satisfaction. For an unsecured-loan credit, confirmation, PAN, tax return, audited financial statements, bank records, interest payments with tax deduction, and repayment can discharge the taxpayer's burden. Third-party investigation material alone does not displace this evidence without proof that the taxpayer paid cash for the loan or that the lender's funds belonged to the taxpayer. The reassessment was sustained, while the cash-credit addition was deleted.

Unexplained bank credits require credit-wise verification; a difference between aggregate bank deposits and GST-reported turnover does not, by itself, establish unexplained money. The taxpayer must establish the nature and source of credits, while the assessment must examine sales receipts, inter-bank transfers, contra entries, redeposits, expenses and disclosed business results. Business-profit estimation must rely on the nature of trade, prior or later results, comparable cases or other relevant material rather than an arbitrary rate. Consequential penalty requires reconsideration after fresh quantum assessment. A Form 26AS entry showing tax collection on a motor vehicle transaction requires verification of whether the transaction was a purchase or sale before taxing any short-term capital gain.

Renewal of charitable registration is confined to examining the charitable nature of the objects, genuineness of activities and material legal compliance, not assessment-stage questions of receipts, profitability, income application, accumulation or annual exemption. The proviso to charitable purpose applies only to advancement of an object of general public utility, not to specific charitable limbs such as education, medical relief, yoga, food distribution and environmental preservation; ancillary receipts do not alone negate charitable character. Net presentation of surplus or deficit, where audited schedules disclose gross receipts and expenditure, is not incorrect information without evidence of deliberate misrepresentation. Predetermin.....

Subscription charges for access to copyrighted databases and online journals are not royalty where users may only search, view and display content for personal use. Access that confers no right to reproduce, amend, replicate or commercially exploit content does not amount to use of, or a right to use, copyright; it is consideration for a copyrighted article or product. Absence of control or dominion over servers also prevents classification as payment for use of industrial, commercial or scientific equipment. Accordingly, the subscription revenue was not taxable as royalty under domestic law or the India-US DTAA, and the related addition was deleted.

Gross profit additions on matched purchase-and-sale accommodation entries are unwarranted where the transaction profit has already been recorded and offered to tax. Estimating further profit solely from the purchase side is unsupported when books of account remain unrejected and quantitative records show no discrepancy. A gross profit rate derived from manufacturing activity cannot be applied to trading or accommodation transactions, because manufacturing margins reflect processing, labour and overheads not present in trading. In the absence of evidence of undisclosed procurement or genuine sales supported by unaccounted purchases, no further gross profit estimation is sustainable.

Advertisement, marketing and promotion expenditure incurred for an assessee's own business and market penetration does not constitute an international transaction merely because an associated enterprise receives an incidental benefit. An agreement or arrangement with the associated enterprise is required to establish such a transaction. The bright line test is not a recognised method for inferring an international transaction or making a transfer pricing adjustment. Applying earlier coordinate-bench decisions on materially identical facts, the AMP transfer pricing adjustment was deleted and the assessee's appeal was allowed.

Transfer pricing rules require benchmarking the actual international transaction and generally prohibit re-characterising legally valid compulsorily convertible debentures as equity merely because another commercial structure appears preferable. Compulsory conversion, lack of repayment before conversion, and separate regulatory or accounting treatment do not alter their debt character until conversion. The nil arm's length price for interest was therefore set aside, with fresh benchmarking required using CUP or another permissible method. Bad debts written off are deductible where statutory conditions are met and debtor accounts are correspondingly extinguished; independent proof of irrecoverability is unnecessary. The bad-debt disallowance was deleted.

Importers using transferable duty credit scrips through authorised customs clearance agents remain responsible for acts performed within the agent's authority when they retain the resulting duty benefit. Bona fide purchaser protection requires good faith and reasonable verification of a scrip's genuineness, validity and available credit; caveat emptor places that due-diligence burden on the importer. Incorrect Bill of Entry declarations and failure to investigate irregular clearance arrangements undermine that protection. Natural justice requires demonstrable prejudice: non-production of original scrips or denial of cross-examination does not invalidate proceedings where independent entitlement, transaction and investigation evidence establ.....

Goods seized under the Customs Act remain within the statutory confiscation and penalty adjudication framework where prior sanction has not been obtained and cognizance of a Customs offence has not been taken. The proper officer's special power to grant provisional release pending adjudication cannot be displaced through the general criminal-law power to release property on zimma. Consequently, a Sessions Court lacks jurisdiction to order release of seized areca nuts on zimma in those circumstances, and the release order was set aside.

Classification of separately imported laptop LCD panels turns on their independent identity as flat panel display modules, not their intended use in laptop repair. The panels were not integrated into computers, and the specific description under heading 8524 prevailed over the general heading for computer parts and accessories. Chapter Note 7 to Chapter 85 gave heading 8524 precedence, while the absence of video-signal-converting components supported that classification. Technical distinctions between LCD and LED panels were irrelevant at import. The panels were classifiable under heading 8524, attracting 15% basic customs duty; the differential-duty demand and confirming order were upheld.

Customs valuation of imported polyurethane-coated polyester water-resistant fabrics must be redetermined under the Customs Valuation Rules, 2007 using comparable contemporary imports rather than an internal departmental instruction or the highest available comparable value. Bills of Entry submitted by the importer should be considered, with the lowest value of similar contemporary imports forming the basis for reassessment. Excess quantity and minor declaration variations may render goods liable to confiscation, even where thickness variations fall within the declared GSM range and no intent to evade duty is established. Redemption fine and penalty must remain proportionate to the importer's involvement and be recalculated by reference to the redetermined value.

Statutory appellate remedy before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal must ordinarily be pursued against NCLT orders, including orders approving revised resolution plans under the insolvency process. Writ jurisdiction should not be exercised where that effective appellate remedy is available. The Supreme Court set aside interim orders that had entertained writ applications challenging an NCLT order, while leaving the parties free to seek relief before the appropriate forum and keeping the merits of their grievances open.

Regulation 31A authorises a regulatory fee on resolution plans as part of insolvency resolution process costs. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board's powers to levy fees and make regulations extend across the corporate insolvency resolution process and are not confined to service-provider registration or renewal. The residuary category of process costs may include the fee because the listed costs share no common genus limiting that power. The levy is a regulatory fee, not a tax: a broad nexus with regulatory services is sufficient and exact quid pro quo is unnecessary. It is neither arbitrary nor excessive merely because the regulator generates a surplus. The proviso applies prospectively to resolution plans pending adjudicatory approval and does not impose retrospective liability.