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DATE: April 29, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: September 4, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: -
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CITATION:
The client is not bound by a statement or admission which he or his lawyer was not authorised to make. The Lawyer generally has no implied or apparent authority to make an admission or statement which would directly surrender or conclude the substantial legal rights of the client unless such an admission or statement is clearly a proper step in accomplishing the purpose for which the lawyer was employed

Generally, admissions of fact made by a counsel is binding upon their principals as long as they are unequivocal; where, however, doubt exists as to a purported admission, the Court should be wary to accept such admissions until and unless the counsel or the advocate is authorised by his principal to make such admissions. Furthermore, a client is not bound by a statement or admission which he or his lawyer was not authorised to make. Lawyer generally has no implied or apparent authority to make an admission or statement which would directly surrender or conclude the substantial legal rights of the client unless such an admission or statement is clearly a proper step in accomplishing the purpose for which the lawyer was employed. We hasten to add neither the client nor the Court is bound by the lawyer’s statements or admissions as to matters of law or legal conclusions. Thus, according to generally accepted notions of professional responsibility, lawyers should follow the client’s instructions rather than substitute their judgment for that of the client.

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DATE: August 28, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: September 3, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 2008-09, 2009-10
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CITATION:
No s. 40(a)(ia) disallowance for failure to deduct TDS on payment if payee has offered amount to tax. Second Proviso to s. 40(a)(ia) inserted by Finance Act 2013 w.e.f. 1.4.2013 should be treated as curative and to have retrospective effect from 1.4.2005. ITAT praised for "thorough analysis" of the provision

Turning to the decision of the Agra Bench of ITAT in Rajiv Kumar Agarwal v. ACIT (supra ) , the Court finds that it has undertaken a thorough analysis of the second proviso to Section 40 (a)(ia) of the Act and also sought to explain the rationale behind its insertion … The Court is of the view that the above reasoning of the Agra Bench of ITAT as regards the rationale behind the insertion of the second proviso to Section 40(a) (ia) of the Act and its conclusion that the said proviso is declaratory and curative and has retrospective effect from 1st April 2005, merits acceptance. In that view of the matter, the Court is unable to find any legal infirmity in the impugned order of the ITAT in adopting the ratio of the decision of the Agra Bench, ITAT in (Rajiv Kumar Agarwal v. ACIT).

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DATE: August 28, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: September 1, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 2002-03, 2005-06, 2006-07
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CITATION:
S. 153A/ 153C: Entire law on the scope of additions that can be made in a pending assessment and in a completed assessment pursuant to a search u/s 132 explained

Completed assessments can be interfered with by the AO while making the assessment under Section 153 A only on the basis of some incriminating material unearthed during the course of search or requisition of documents or undisclosed income or property discovered in the course of search which were not produced or not already disclosed or made known in the course of original assessment

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DATE: August 24, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: September 1, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 2004-05
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CITATION:
S. 271(1)(c): Claim that compensation received from foreign party is a capital receipt, though wrong on merits, does not attract penalty if assessee disclosed facts in ROI and was supported by a legal opinion

These facts are sufficient to distinguish the present case from the facts in CIT Delhi v. Zoom Communication 327 ITR 510 (Del) where the Court observed that apart from a making wrong claim, the Assessee did so not on the basis of any advice given to it by an auditor or tax expert. Even in MAK Data P. Ltd. v. CIT 358 ITR 593 (SC), the Supreme Court held on facts that the Assessee there had no intention to declare its true income and no explanation was offered by it for the concealment of income. In the facts of the present case, the Court is satisfied that no error of law was committed either by the CIT (A) or the ITAT in holding that Explanation 1 to Section 271(1)(c) of the Act was not attracted. This was not a case of an Assessee furnishing inaccurate particulars

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DATE: July 21, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: September 1, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 2008-09
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CITATION:
S. 271(1)(c): Offering interest on maturity on Bonds as “long-term capital gains” instead of as “income from other sources” is a mere change in the head of income and a case of bona fide mistake which does not attract penalty

The interest of all the three years was offered to tax in the year of maturity and not year-wise. This is just change in the head of income under which the income is offered to tax. The taxation of the receipt is changed to the head of income ‘other sources’ from the head of income ‘capital gain’. The explanation filed by the assessee is bona fide. This is a case of a bona fide mistake on part of the assessee

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DATE: August 13, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: September 1, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 2008-09
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CITATION:
S. 253/ Rule 27: While the Tribunal can examine all questions which relate to the subject matter of an appeal but, once an issue has attained finality and is not a subject matter of the dispute before the Tribunal, it would not be open for the Tribunal to reopen the issue on the pretext of examining a question of law

Indisputably, the Revenue could also not take recourse to Rule 27 of the Income Tax (Appellate Tribunal) Rules, 1963. By virtue of the said Rule, a respondent before the Tribunal can support the decision appealed against not only on the grounds decided in favour of the respondent but also on grounds decided against it. However, Rule 27 of the said Rules would not extend to permitting the respondent to expand the scope of an appeal and assail the decision on issues, which are not subject matter of the appeal

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DATE: August 19, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: August 27, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 2010-11
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CITATION:
S. 54: Giving advance to builder constitutes "purchase" of new house even if construction is not completed and title to the property has not passed to the assessee within the prescribed period

The word ‘purchase’ used in Section 54 of the Act should be interpreted pragmatically. The intention behind Section 54 was to give relief to a person who had transferred his residential house and had purchased another residential house within two years of transfer or had purchased a residential house one year before transfer. It was only the excess amount not used for making purchase or construction of the property within the stipulated period, which was taxable as long term capital gain while on the amount spent, relief should be granted. Principle of purposive interpretation should be applied to subserve the object and more particularly when one was concerned with exemption from payment of tax

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DATE: July 27, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: August 27, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 2006-07
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CITATION:
S. 11: A charity is not entitled to exemption if it carries out activities not as per the objects. The fact that such ultra vires objects are also charitable is not relevant. Fact that CIT has granted registration u/s 12A does not preclude AO from examining compliance with s. 11. Incidental objects to attain the main object, even if significant in value, are permissible. Under principles of consistency, AO is not permitted to change view in the absence of a change in facts

The expression “such purposes” in s. 11 clearly refers to the purposes for which the property is held in Trust. Both the conditions i.e. the income should be derived from the property held in Trust for charitable or religious purposes and the condition that the income is applied for such purposes, are cumulative. The contention of the assessee that the expression “such purposes” would mean any charitable or religious purpose, even if the said purpose is not the purpose for which the property is held in Trust is not acceptable. The contention that as long as the Assessee applies the income from a property held in Trust for charitable or religious purpose, to any charitable or religious purpose, the exemption under Section 11(1)(a) of the Act would be available, notwithstanding that the purpose for which the income is applied is not the purpose for which the property is held in Trust, cannot be sustained as the same would be contrary to the plain language of Section 11(1)(a) of the Act. In order for any income to be excluded from the scope of total income, the same must be derived from a property held in Trust for a charitable or religious purpose and must also be applied for that purpose

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DATE: August 4, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: August 27, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 2009-10
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CITATION:
S. 32: Customs duty paid in a later year can be capitalized in the year the obligation to pay the duty arose. Question whether it can be capitalized in year of import of the goods left open

The central question is whether the obligation to pay customs duty related back to the actual date of payment of customs duty or the date of import of the equipment and whether the said customs duty paid in the previous year relevant to the AY in question can be capitalized with reference to an earlier year. In Funskool (India) Limited (2007) 294 ITR 642 (Mad) the question was whether depreciation could be claimed on the additional customs duty paid in the previous year relevant to the AY in question although such customs duty was in respect of machinery that was imported and installed in an earlier year. That question was answered in the affirmative by the Madras High Court by following the judgment of the Gujarat High Court in Atlas Radio and Electronics P. Limited v. Commissioner of Income Tax (1994) 207 ITR 329 (Guj) in which it was held that even though the sales tax was paid in a subsequent year, the liability to pay sales tax arose in the accounting period relevant to the assessment year in which the machinery was purchased.

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DATE: August 19, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: August 27, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 2008-09
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CITATION:
Transfer Pricing: Circumstances in which the Profit Split Method (PSM) has to be preferred over the TNMM for determining the ALP and method of allocation of profits between the assessee and the AE under the PSM explained

The Profit Split Method (PSM) first identifies the profit to be split for the associated enterprise from the controlled transactions in which the AEs are engaged. It then splits these profits between the AEs on an economically valid basis that approximates the division of the profit that would have been anticipated and reflected in an agreement, transaction or a residual profit intended to represent the profit that cannot readily be assigned to one of the parties. The contribution of each enterprise is based upon a functional analysis and valued to the extent possible by any available reliable standard market data. The functional analysis is an analysis of the functions performed (taking into account assets used and risk assumed) by each enterprise

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