Territorial jurisdiction allocated by a CBDT circular is indispensable to an appellate authority's valid exercise of quasi-judicial power. Appeals arising within the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry charge fell within the jurisdiction of the Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals)-18, Chennai. An appellate authority at Delhi lacked authority over the assessee's dispute; consequently, its appellate orders were without jurisdiction, null and void, and quashed.

Where appellate orders are void for want of territorial jurisdiction, quashing those orders does not dispose of the underlying appeals or grounds challenging wealth-tax additions. The appeals must be restored to the jurisdictionally competent appellate authority for fresh adjudication on merits, with an opportunity of hearing. Failure to direct such restoration constitutes an omission warranting rectification.

Refund of CVD and SAD on de-bonding of capital goods after GST transition - Cash refund of unavailed eligible CENVAT credit - Cash refund of CVD and SAD paid on de-bonding of capital goods after introduction of GST, where the duties were eligible for CENVAT credit but could not be carried forward HELD THAT: - The Tribunal found the controversy squarely covered by its earlier decisions M/s. JSW Steel Ltd [2024 (6) TMI 906 - CESTAT BANGALORE] and M/s. Roha Dyechem Pvt. Ltd. [2025 (5) TMI 1015 -... ... ...

Pre-notice payment of service tax - penalty - Transfer of right to use software - deemed sale - Reverse charge on foreign consultancy services - Director's remuneration - employer-employee exclusion Pre-notice payment of service tax - penalty - Section 73(3) benefit - Penalty for delayed payment of service tax on product support service despite payment with interest before issuance of the show-cause notice - HELD THAT: - The entire tax liability on product support service, together with i... ... ...

Taxable value of brokerage and commission - Reimbursable statutory and third-party charges - Extended limitation for service tax demand Taxable value of brokerage and commission - Reimbursable statutory and third-party charges - Inclusion of exchange transaction charges, regulatory fees, stamp duty, depository and DEMAT charges, bandwidth charges and security transaction charges separately recovered by a stock broker, commodity broker and depository participant in the taxable value of brokera... ... ...

Extended limitation for service-tax demand-wilful suppression - Taxability of credit-card sourcing commission - Reverse-charge liability for mutual fund agent services Extended limitation for service-tax demand-wilful suppression - Invocation of the extended period and imposition of penalty for non-payment of service tax on commission income - HELD THAT: - The services were rendered to established entities and the consideration was received through electronic modes or cheques. The appellant w... ... ...

Summary order. The miscellaneous application for amendment of the cause title consequent upon amalgamation of the appellant-company was allowed.... ... ...

Indexed cost of improvement claimed in computing capital gains - Claim disallowed for want of evidence Allowance of indexed cost of improvement in computing capital gains where no evidence supporting the improvement expenditure was produced - HELD THAT: - The assessee admittedly failed to adduce evidence substantiating the claimed cost of improvement. In the absence of such evidence, the claim could not be allowed. [Paras 6] The disallowance of the claimed indexed cost of improvement was s... ... ...

Deduction of interest income of a primary credit co-operative society - Deduction of income-tax refund interest of a co-operative society Deduction of interest on deposits with co-operative and other banks - Interest income of a primary credit co-operative society - Deduction u/s 80P in respect of interest earned by a primary credit co-operative society on deposits with co-operative banks and other banks - HELD THAT: - Following the coordinate-bench decision CHANDRAPRABHU GRAMIN BIGARSHETI SA... ... ...

Addition for unexplained cash deposits - deposits were claimed to arise from consideration, including on-money, received on sale of rural agricultural land - HELD THAT: - The registered sale deed and agreement to sale supported the sale of rural agricultural land and receipt of consideration exceeding that recorded in the sale deed. As the cheque stipulated in the sale deed had not been deposited, the Tribunal accepted that cash received in lieu thereof, together with cash in hand, explained one... ... ...

Depreciation on Government securities held as stock-in-trade by a cooperative bank - Exemption of dividend income from mutual fund investments Depreciation on Government securities held as stock-in-trade by a cooperative bank - Allowability of depreciation on Government securities held by the cooperative bank - HELD THAT: - The Tribunal found that the claim was supported by material already on record and that no new evidence had been produced at the appellate stage. Following the earlier orde... ... ...

Penalty for unexplained cash deposit after deletion of quantum addition - Penalty for undisclosed interest income Penalty for unexplained cash deposit after deletion of quantum addition - HELD THAT: - The corresponding addition for unexplained cash deposit had been deleted in the assessee's quantum appeal. Consequently, the penalty attributable to that deleted addition could not survive. [Paras 4] The penalty levied in relation to the unexplained cash deposit was deleted. Penalty fo... ... ...

Rectification of income voluntarily disclosed in return - Non-speaking appellate order Rectification of income voluntarily disclosed in return - Apparent mistake in assessment order - Rectification of interest income disclosed in the return as allegedly arising from a software error -HELD THAT: - The assessment had accepted the income returned by the assessee. The alleged erroneous disclosure of interest income in the return did not constitute an apparent mistake in the assessment order capab... ... ...

Deduction u/s 80IA(4)(iii) - Retrospective operation of executive notifications - Authority to revoke industrial park notifications - Section 80IA deduction for approved industrial parks Deduction u/s 80IA(4)(iii) - Retrospective operation of executive notifications - Whether deduction u/s 80IA(4)(iii) was available where the CBDT had retrospectively rescinded the notification of the industrial park despite the continuing approval of the Central Government through the Empowered Committee? - H... ... ...

Penalty u/s. 272A(1)(d) for non-compliance with notices - restriction to first default - Penalty for failure to respond to assessment notices on multiple occasions where the assessee had not remained wholly absent from the assessment proceedings HELD THAT: - in the case of Smt. Rekha Rani [2015 (5) TMI 1100 - ITAT DELHI] ITAT held that penalty under section 271(1)(b) cannot be imposed for each and every notice issued under section 143(2), which remained not complied with on part of assessee, ... ... ...

Unexplained money - cash found in search - Cash belonging to other family members - Addition for cash found at the assessee's residence, claimed as cash in hand of the assessee's sons carrying on independent proprietary businesses - HELD THAT: - The material showed that the assessee and his sons constituted a joint family, while the sons independently conducted a medical shop and supermarket. Their returns for the relevant assessment year disclosed cash in hand, and the closing-cash deta... ... ...

Incriminating material in unabated search assessments u/s 153A - Unaccounted mineral sales based on third-party search material Additions for alleged unaccounted sales of mineral products in unabated assessments based on material and statements obtained from the premises of a third party, without cogent or corroborative evidence found at the assessee's premises - HELD THAT: - In unabated assessments, an addition can be made only on the basis of incriminating material unearthed during sear... ... ...

Peak credit of unaccounted finance transactions - Double taxation of receipts embedded in peak credit Peak credit of unaccounted finance transactions - Business income versus unexplained investment - Treatment of peak credit arising from unrecorded finance-business transactions as business income rather than unexplained investment - HELD THAT: - The seized notebooks recorded receipts and expenditure of the finance business, and there was no material showing any other source of income. The pea... ... ...

Deduction u/s 80P - disallowance contrary to assessment order - Assessment order and computation sheet - internal inconsistency Validity of disallowance of the co-operative society's deduction under section 80P solely through the computation sheet despite the assessment order recording that no addition was made on the limited-scrutiny issue - HELD THAT: - Though the computation sheet forms part of the integrated assessment process and may determine the tax payable, it cannot sustain a con... ... ...

A standard Deficiency Memo format prescribed in Annexure-I to CBIC Circular No. 31/2026-Customs must be used immediately for every drawback claim processed under Section 74 of the Customs Act, 1962. The requirement addresses the absence of a uniform format and is intended to ensure consistency, transparency and timely disposal of drawback claims. Additional/Joint Commissioners and Deputy/Assistant Commissioners must sensitise officers under their charge and ensure strict compliance with the prescribed format.