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DATE: April 24, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: April 26, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 1997-98
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CITATION:
S. 80-O: Law on meaning of "technical assistance" and when services can be said to have made available "information concerning industrial, commercial or scientific knowledge, experience or skill" explained

The wider meaning of the word “technical” would defeat the object of Section 80-O by enabling the remuneration for management or running of a foreign company to be eligible for deduction under Section 80-O. On the other hand, the narrower meaning of the word “technical” seems to be more in keeping with the object of the section. It has to be remembered that the word “technology” which has affinity with the word “technical” is concerned with the control of material environment by man. This is done by two means

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DATE: April 19, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: April 23, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: -
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CITATION:
It is a fundamental rule of law of taxation that, unless otherwise expressly provided, income cannot be taxed twice. A taxing Statute should not be interpreted in such a manner that its effect will be to cast a burden twice over for the payment of tax on the taxpayer unless the language of the Statute is so compelling that the court has no alternative than to accept it. In a case of reasonable doubt, the construction most beneficial to the taxpayer is to be adopted

It is not disputed that there can be double taxation if the legislature has distinctly enacted it. It is only when there are general words of taxation and they have to be interpreted, they cannot be so interpreted as to tax the subject twice over to the same tax….. If any double taxation is involved, the Legislature itself has, in express words, sanctioned it. It is not open to any one thereafter to invoke the general principles that the subject cannot be taxed twice over

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DATE: March 12, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: April 23, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2008-09
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Transfer Pricing: Entire law on whether the TPO can sit in judgement over the business model of the assessee and determine the ALP of the transactions with AEs at Nil explained in the context of judgements in Kodak India 288 CTR 46 (Bom), Lever India Exports 292 CTR 393 (Bom), Cushman and Wakefield 233 TAXMAN 250 (Del), R.A.K. Ceramics 293 CTR 361 (AP) & Delloite Consulting 137 ITD 21 (Mum)

Now, coming to the issue of transfer pricing adjustment made by TPO on account of services availed by the assessee from its associated enterprises and taking the value of said international transactions at Nil. In the first instance, we hold that TPO cannot sit in the judgment of business module of assessee and its intention to avail or not to avail any services from its associated enterprises. The role of TPO is to determine the arm’s length price of international transactions undertaken by the assessee and whether the same is at arm’s length price when compared with similar transactions undertaken by external entities or internal comparables

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DATE: April 17, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: April 21, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2010-11
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CITATION:
S. 68 Bogus loans: The assessee is not required to explain the "source of source" prior to insertion of the proviso to s. 68. If the assessee has discharged the primary onus placed upon it u/s 68 by filing confirmation letters, the Affidavits, the full address and pan numbers of the creditors, the Revenue has to proceed against the persons whose source of funds are alleged to be not genuine

The proviso to Section 68 of the Act has been introduced by the Finance Act, 2012 w.e.f. 1st April, 2013 and therefore it would be effective only from Assessment Year 2013-14 onwards and not for the earlier assessment years. Where the Revenue urges that the money has been received from bogus shareholders then it is for the Revenue to proceed against them in accordance with law. This would not entitle the Revenue to invoke Section 68 of the Act while assessing the respondent for not explaining the source of its source.

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DATE: March 7, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: April 21, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2014-15
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CITATION:
S. 56(2)(viia)/ Rule 11UA: The "fair market value" of shares acquired has to be determined by the taking the book values of the underlying assets and not their market values

On the plain reading of Rule 11UA, it is revealed that while valuing the shares the book value of the assets and liabilities declared by the TEPL should be taken into consideration. There is no whisper under the provision of 11UA of the Rules to refer the fair market value of the land as taken by the Assessing Officer as applicable to the year under consideration

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DATE: April 13, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: April 19, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2011-12
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CITATION:
Bogus Purchases: The fact that the supplier admitted to issuing bogus bills does not necessarily mean that he had issued accommodation bills to the assessee. There is subtle but very important difference in issuing bogus bills and issuing accommodation bills to a particular party. The difference becomes very important when a supplier in his affidavit admits supply of goods. As far as sales are concerned there is no doubt about the genuineness of such sales. It is also a fact that suppliers were paying VAT and were filing their returns of income. In response to the notices issued by the AO u/s 133(6) of the Act, the supplier admitted the genuineness of the transaction. Accordingly, the purchases cannot be treated as bogus

We find that DJ had admitted of issuing bogus bills. But, nowhere he had admitted that he had issued accommodation bills to the assessee. In our opinion, there is subtle but very important difference in issuing bogus bills and issuing accommodation bills to a particular party. The difference becomes very important when a supplier in his affidavit admits supply of goods.In this matter, the assessee had made no local sales and goods were exported, as stated earlier. So, as far as sales are concerned there is no doubt about the genuineness of such sales. It is also a fact that suppliers were paying VAT and were filing their returns of income.In response to the notices issued by the AO,under section 133(6) of the Act, the supplier had admitted the genuineness of the transaction

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DATE: April 6, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: April 19, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2004-05
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CITATION:
S. 147 Reopening: Passing the reassessment order before the expiry of 4 weeks of passing the order of objections renders the reassessment order void. Also, if the reasons state “bogus accommodation entries were provided/taken” and it is not clear whether the assessee has received or provided accommodation entries, it means there is no application of mind by the AO while recording reasons

All these things do not inspire any confidence that the learned AO has reached any conscious decision that any income of the assessee has escaped assessment and the modus operandi thereof. We, therefore, hold that the satisfaction of the learned AO is not based on any sound reasoning and on that ground, we hold that the reopening of assessment is bad

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DATE: April 11, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: April 19, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2010-11, 2011-12
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CITATION:
S. 9(1)(i)/ 40(a)(i): Entire law on whether commission paid by an Indian entity to foreign agents can be said to accrue in India and whether the assessee is obliged to deduct TDS thereon u/s 195 explained. All relevant judgements and CBDT Circulars Nos.7 dated 22.10.2009, 23 dated 23 July 1969, 163 dated 29th May 1975 and 786 dated 7th February 2000 considered

It is not disputed that that the withdrawal of the circulars No. 23 and 786 has been made on 22.10.2009 vide CBDT Circular No. 7 of 2009 and mere withdrawal of the circular does not negate the principles of income deemed to accrue or arise in India or outside India. The CBDT has not stated that any part of the circulars is contrary to law or that the circulars were wrongly issued or that the law has undergone changes holding their withdrawal. Thus, in respect of cases, which directly follow with the situations covered by the circulars, the liability to tax should continue to be in accordance with section 9 of the Act and its intent. The relevant sections, namely section 5(2) and section 9 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 not having undergone any change in this regard, the clarification in Circular No. 23 still prevails even after the withdrawal. No tax is therefore deductible under section 195 and consequently, the expenditure on export commission payable to a non-resident for services rendered outside India is not liable for withholding tax

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DATE: April 11, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: April 16, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2008-09, 2009-10
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CITATION:
Strictures passed against Dept's Advocate for "most unreasonable attitude" of seeking to reargue settled concluded issues. This results in unnecessary wastage of the scarce judicial time available in the context of the large number of the appeals awaiting consideration. Dept's Advocate are expected to act with responsibility as an Officer of the Court and not merely argue for the sake of arguing when an issue is clearly covered by the decision of Co- ordinate Bench of the Court and take up scarce judicial time. Advocates must bear in mind that this is a Court of law and not an University/College debating Society, where debates are held for academic stimulation. We deal with real life disputes and decide them in accordance with the Rule of Law, of which an important limb is uniformity of application of law. This on the basis of judicial discipline and law of precedents

We are pained to record this most unreasonable attitude on the part of the Advocate for the Revenue of seeking to reargue settled concluded issues, without having obtained any stay from the Apex Court. This results in unnecessary wastage of the scarce judicial time available in the context of the large number of the appeals awaiting consideration. We would expect Mr. Chhotaray, as an Advocate to act with responsibility as an Officer of the Court and not merely argue for the sake of arguing when an issue is clearly covered by the decision of Co- ordinate Bench of the Court and take up scarce judicial time. The Advocate must bear in mind that this is a Court of law and not an University/College debating Society, where debates are held for academic stimulation. We deal with real life disputes and decide them in accordance with the Rule of Law, of which an important limb is uniformity of application of law. This on the basis of judicial discipline and law of precedents

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DATE: April 2, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: April 16, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: -
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CITATION:
S. 40(3) Wealth-tax: Law on whether Parliament has legislative competence to tax land and buildings which are in List-II of the 7th Schedule and whether the classification of "companies in which the public are not substantially interested" is arbitrary and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution explained (Imp constitutional law principles laid down)

Section 40(3) of the Act bringing to tax land and building which is not used for business purposes by companies in which public are not substantially interested to tax under the Wealth Tax Act and leaving out those land and buildings which are used for business purposes by companies in which public are not substantially interested from the charge of wealth tax under the Act is a reasonable classification

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