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DATE: January 23, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: January 27, 2018 (Date of publication)
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CITATION:
S. 279(2): Entire law on the compounding of offenses u/s 276C, 277 read with S. 278D explained in the context of whether the CBDT Guidelines on compounding of offenses dated 23.12.2014 prescribing eligibility conditions and the formula for calculating the compounding fee are valid or unreasonable

The petitioner having voluntarily agreed and undertaken to the department to pay the compounding charges and to withdraw his appeal, ought to be directed to be bound down by the same. It is a settlement process voluntarily invoked by the petitioner in order to escape criminal prosecution under the Act. Since an accused may have to suffer severe consequences for non-payment of tax, if he is held to be guilty, it is not open to him to challenge the reasonableness of the same. The petitioner had consciously undertaken to abide by the decision of the Committee constituted for compounding the offences

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DATE: January 18, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: January 25, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2008-09
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CITATION:
Bogus capital gains from Penny stocks: The fact that the appreciation in the value of the shares is high does not justify the transactions being treated as fictitious and the capital gains being assessed as undisclosed income if (a) the shares are traded on the Stock Exchange, (b) the payments and receipts are routed through the bank, (c) there is no evidence to indicate it is a closely held company and (d) the trading on the Stock Exchange was manipulated in any manner

The assessee purchased shares of a company during the assessment year 2006-2007 at Rs 11/- and sold the same in the assessment year 2008-2009 at Rs 400/- per share. The Assessing Officer added the appreciation to the assessees’ income on the suspicion that these were fictitious transactions and that the appreciation actually represented the assessees’ income from undisclosed sources. The Tribunal held that the Assessing Officer had not produced any evidence whatsoever in support of the suspicion. On the other hand, although the appreciation is very high, the shares were traded on the National Stock Exchange and the payments and receipts were routed through the bank. There was no evidence to indicate for instance that this was a closely held company and that the trading on the National Stock Exchange was manipulated in any manner

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DATE: October 11, 2017 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: January 25, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: -
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CITATION:
S. 127(2) Transfer of case: The existence of agreement between two jurisdictional Commissioners is a condition precedent for passing the order of transfer. The agreement cannot be implied because S. 127(2) (2) (a) contemplates a positive state of mind of the two jurisdictional CsIT. Absence of disagreement cannot tantamount to agreement

The existence of such agreement between two jurisdictional Commissioners is a condition precedent for passing the order of transfer. Except for the request which came from the investigation office, Chennai of transferring the case, there is no reference whatsoever to any such agreement. Clause (b) of subsection (2) of section 127 provides for consequences when there is no such agreement. When the jurisdiction to pass an order of transfer under clause (a) of subsection (2) of Section 127 can be exercised only when there is such an agreement, the fact that such an agreement exists ought to have been stated in the the show cause notice as the same is a jurisdictional fact. Apart from the failure to mention the same in the show cause notice, the only stand of the revenue is that there is an agreement by implication

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DATE: January 16, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: January 25, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2008-09
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CITATION:
S. 68: If an admission of undisclosed income is made by the assessee after reference to the material found during search and seizure, it cannot be said that the admission is not based on incriminating material. The retraction of such admission of undisclosed income is not permissible especially when the retraction is by the mother and not by the assessee

As evident in the material obtained by the Revenue during search and seizure, it was only with reference to the search and seizure material that Smt. Madhu Chopra gave a specific amount to various heads wherein the undisclosed income had been utilized. The assessee had also separately accepted the same. Hence, it cannot be said that this addition is not based upon any incriminating material found or searched. Furthermore, the so called retraction is by the mother of the assessee and the Assessing Officer is correct in finding that there is no retraction whatsoever by the assessee

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DATE: January 23, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: January 24, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2012-13
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CITATION:
Transfer Pricing: Important law explained on whether termination of Option rights under an agreement can be treated as a "deemed international transaction" under section 92B(2) of the Act read with Rule 10B (4) in the light of the judgements in Vodafone's own cases of the Supreme Court (341 ITR 1) and the Bombay High Court (385 ITR 169).

When we interpose the aforesaid statutory definition in Section 92C(1), we find that the expression ‘international transaction’ means “an arrangement, understanding or action in concert etc between two or more associated enterprises, either or both of whom are non-residents, in the nature of purchase, sale or lease of tangible or intangible property, or provision of services, or lending or borrowing money, or any other an arrangement, understanding or action in concert having a bearing on the profits, income, losses or assets of such enterprises ……..”. Therefore, in order to ascertain whether a particular transaction or not is an international transaction or not, the necessary preconditions which are to be satisfied are (a) that it is in the nature “an arrangement, understanding or action in concert etc”; (b) that it is between two or more associated enterprises, either or both of whom are non-residents; and (c) that it has a bearing on the profits, income, losses or assets of such enterprises

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DATE: January 16, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: January 24, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2012-13
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CITATION:
S. 271(1)(c) penalty: Though capital gains was not disclosed in the return, if tax on the same is paid after the s. 147 assessment order is passed, there is no loss to the Revenue and it also shows the bona fides of the assessee and penalty cannot be levied. The fact that if the s. 148 notice was not issued, the assessee would have got away with tax evasion does not mean that his action was not bona fide

At the very outset, we observe that as appearing on record, in the return filed by the assessee the tax on sale of immoveable property was not paid or entered into. However, when notice under section 148 of the Act was issued, assessee himself attended the proceedings and thereafter paid the entire tax on the same date when the assessment order was finalized. This element of behaviour on the part of the assessee shows that when he had filed the return, there was some omission on the part of the assessee to include the tax on the sale of property. However, when he received notice under section 148 of the Act, he was very eager to know what mistake has been committed by him and, therefore, he himself attended the hearing before the Assessing Officer and on coming to know about the amount of tax payable, has immediately paid tax on the same date. He has not even challenged the assessment order and has accepted the assessment as passed by the Assessing Officer and paid due tax. Therefore, there is no loss to the Revenue.

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DATE: January 19, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: January 23, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2010-11
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CITATION:
S. 271(1)(c) penalty: If the AO has not recorded any satisfaction in absolute terms whether the assessee has concealed particulars of income or has furnished inaccurate particulars of income, the levy of penalty is invalid. The judgement of the Bombay High Court in Maharaj Garage cannot be read out of context or in a manner to mean that there is no need for mentioning the specific limb of section 271(1)(c) of the Act for which the penalty was intended to be imposed, as such issue never came up for consideration before the High Court

As far as the judgment of the Hon’ble Jurisdictional High Court in Maharaj Garage dated 22nd August 2017 in ITA no. 21 of 2008 relied upon by the learned Departmental Representative, on a careful reading of the said judgment, we are of the view that it will have no application to the facts of the case. As could be seen, the basic issue arising out of the reference application which fell for consideration of the Hon’ble Jurisdictional High Court was, while granting previous approval by Inspecting Assistant Commissioner of Income–tax as per provisions of section 271(1)(c)(iii) of the Act whether the assessee was required to be given an opportunity of being heard. While considering this issue, the Hon’ble Jurisdictional High Court observed that provisions of section 271(1)(c)(iii) does not attract rule of presumption of mens rea as the penalty imposable under the said provision is for the breach of civil obligation. The observations of the Hon’ble Court against issuance of show cause notice appears to be in the context of quantum of penalty proposed to be imposed and not with reference to the doing away with the issuance of show cause notice as contemplated under section 274 of the Act. Therefore, the judgment of the Hon’ble Court cannot be read out of context or in a manner to mean that there is no need for mentioning the specific limb of section 271(1)(c) of the Act for which the penalty was intended to be imposed, as such issue never came up for consideration before the Hon’ble High Court. That being the case, the aforesaid decision cannot be applied for rebutting the proposition that in the absence of recording of satisfaction regarding the exact nature of offence, no penalty under section 271(1)(c) can be imposed

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DATE: January 18, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: January 23, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2013-14
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CITATION:
S. 2(1A)/ 68: An assessee who understates the consideration received for sale of agricultural land to avoid payment of stamp duty is defrauding the exchequer. He cannot take advantage of his own wrong and is estopped from contending that the amount received from the purchaser is a higher amount than was stated in the agreement. The incremental amount is assessable as ‘income from other sources’ and not as ‘agricultural income’. However, penalty u/s 271(1)(c) cannot be levied for the said wrong claim

Both seller and purchaser are estopped from their act and conduct to take such a self -contradictory plea. Not only the earlier but the later authorities also are the public officers appointed for the collection of taxes contributing to the public exchequer (may be of the State or of the Union) and a person having represented the factum of the transaction in a particular manner at one stage to a public officer and getting a wrongful benefit is estopped to deny the same to the subsequent public authority, both authorities being employee and representative of the government . The principle of estoppel in the light of the provisions of section 115 of the Evidence Act gets attracted in such a case. Even otherwise, recognizing such a transaction will amount to over riding the provisions of Transfer of Property Act and Indian Registration Act. In view of the above discussion, it can be safely held that not only legally but also ethically and morally, the parties to a registered document are not allowed to deny the terms of the document until and unless the very validity or execution of such a document is disputed

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DATE: December 1, 2017 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: January 20, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2010-11
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CITATION:
S. 271(1)(c) Penalty: Conflict in law laid down by Bombay, Patna & Karnataka High Courts in Kaushalya 216 ITR 660 (Bom), Maharaj Garage (Bom), Samson Perinchery (Bom), Mithila Motors 149 ITR 751 (Pat) & Manjunatha Cotton & Ginning 359 ITR 565 (Kar) on whether the issuance of a s. 274 notice is merely an administrative device for informing the assessee about the proposal to levy penalty and mere mistake in the language used or mere non-striking of the inaccurate portion invalidates the notice or not explained. Impact of the conflicting law of the High Courts on Benches of the Tribunal in jurisdictional and non-jurisdictional States also explained

The line of reasoning of the Hon’ble Bombay High Court and the Hon’ble Patna High Court is that issuance of notice is an administrative device for informing the assessee about the proposal to levy penalty in order to enable him to explain as to why it should not be done. Mere mistake in the language used or mere non-striking of the inaccurate portion cannot by itself invalidate the notice. The Tribunal Benches at Mumbai and Patna being subordinate to the Hon’ble Bombay High Court and Patna High Court are bound to follow the aforesaid view. The Tribunal Benches at Bangalore have to follow the decision of the Hon’ble Karnataka High Court. As far as benches of Tribunal in other jurisdictions are concerned, there are two views on the issue, one in favour of the Assessee rendered by the Hon’ble Karnataka High Court in the case of Manjunatha Cotton & Ginning (supra) and other of the Hon’ble Bombay High Court in the case of Smt. Kaushalya. It is settled legal position that where two views are available on an issue, the view favourable to the Assessee has to be followed

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DATE: January 5, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: January 20, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2013-14
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CITATION:
S. 56(2)(vii) Taxability of gifts as income: Meaning of the term "relative" in the context of a Hindu Undivided Family (HUF), and whether if the donor is the mother of the Karta of the HUF, a gift by the mother to the HUF is a gift from a "relative" so as to avoid attracting tax liability explained. All judgements on the subject considered

As per explanation (d) in the definition of “property”, several types of assets are listed including shares and securities. It is not denied that assessee is an HUF, during the year it has received from mother of the Kaka of the assessee HUF a gift of 75,000 shares of a private limited company. Therefore, apparently the provisions of section 56 (2) applies in the case of the assessee. However, proviso to the above section provides that the above clause shall not apply to any sum of money or any property received from any “relative”. Therefore, if such sum or property is received from a “relative” it will not be chargeable to tax under that section. The explanation (e) defines “relatives” in case of a Hindu undivided family as any member thereof. Therefore, if the above assessee, HUF, receives any sum from any member of the HUF then such sum or property received by the HUF assessee will not be chargeable to tax. Therefore, the simple issue that arises to be examined that whether Mrs. Sneh Gupta is a member of the assessee HUF. If she is, then the gift of share is not chargeable to tax in the hands of assessee as income

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