Year: 2018

Archive for 2018


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DATE: November 16, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: November 21, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2006-07, 2007-08
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CITATION:
S. 68 Black Money in HSBC Bank Account (i) Non-residents are not required to disclose their foreign bank accounts and assets to Indian income-tax authorities (ii) The assessee cannot be asked to prove the negative that the credits found in HSBC Bank is not sourced out of income derived from India (iii) the Govt / legislature never intended to tax foreign accounts of non residents (iv) mere holding of an account outside India does not have led to the conclusion that the amount is tax evaded

It is very clear from the clarifications issued by the Government itself that the legislature does not wish to take any action in respect of non residents holding foreign bank accounts. Further, even in the excel utility of return of income in the income-tax department website, the moment a person fills his residential status as non resident, the excel utility prevents filling of columns pertaining to foreign assets. Even, the Hon’ble Finance Minister has clarified that all accounts in foreign bank may not be illegal as they may belong to NRI. Thus, even the government has acknowledged the fact that an NRI foreign bank account is not illegal

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DATE: November 9, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: November 21, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2012-13
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CITATION:
S. 2(47) Transfer: Law on whether conversion of preference shares into equity shares constitutes a "transfer" and whether capital gains can be assessed on the basis of the market value of the equity shares explained (Santosh L. Chowgule 234 ITR 787 (Bom) & Trustees of H.E.H. The Nizam 102 ITR 248 (AP) distinguished. CBDT Circular dated 12.05.1984 referred

Where one type of shares is converted into another type of share (including conversion of debentures into equity shares), there is, in fact, no “transfer” of a capital asset within the meaning of section 2(47) of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Hence, any profits derived from such conversion are not liable to capital gains tax under section 45(1) of the Act. However, when such newly converted share is actually transferred at a later date, the cost of acquisition of such share for the purpose of computing the capital gains shall be calculated with reference to the cost of the acquisition of the original share of stock from which it is derived

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DATE: October 24, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: November 21, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2011-12
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CITATION:
S. 17(2)(vi) Perquisite: Gains arising to an employee from sale of shares allotted under ESOP (Employees Stock Option Plan) by foreign parent company cannot be assessed as "salaries". It is assessable as "capital gains". Fact that employer has shown the gains as "perquisite" in Form 16 is irrelevant

The assessee had already acquired the asset viz., “stock” from the employee’s stock options scheme when he was serving abroad in the parent company and during that assessment year, the assessee was non-resident. Therefore during the beginning of the relevant assessment year, the stock viz., the asset was already vested on the assessee. Any gain on sale arising out of such asset during the relevant assessment year when he is a resident but NOR has to be necessarily treated as capital gain in the hands of the assessee as per the provisions of the act

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DATE: November 2, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: November 16, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: -
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CITATION:
Entire law on whether complaint and sanction for prosecution of offenses can be quashed as being without proper application of mind explained in the context of s. 55 of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 (All judgements on the subject of prosecution of offenses discussed)

Before proceeding with any action, it is the duty of the assessing officer to arrive at a conclusion, as to whether, there is an undisclosed income under Section 2(11) and a duty is cast on the assessing officer to form an opinion, under Section 2(11). Expression, “undisclosed source of investment” depends on the existence of the above and the opinion is dependent on each one of the facts. Show cause notice issued is totally extraneous to Section 2(11) of the Act. At this juncture, it is pertinent to consider, what “satisfaction” means. “Satisfaction” means to be satisfied with a state of things, meaning thereby, to be satisfied in one’s own mind. Satisfaction is essentially a conclusion of mind. The word “satisfied” means, “makes up its mind”

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DATE: August 20, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: November 16, 2018 (Date of publication)
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CITATION:
S. 254(2): (i) Mere pendency of appeal in the High Court does not preclude the Tribunal's power of rectification, (ii) Fact that there is difference of opinion between the two members of the Tribunal would, by itself, nor mean that the error sought to be rectified is not apparent on the record & (iii) The Tribunal has no jurisdiction to recall an order based on submissions made and upon consideration of materials on record. The power of rectification are circumscribed with the condition that the same can be exercised for correcting error be of law or facts apparent on record. The jurisdiction to correct errors vested in the Tribunal is not akin to review powers

Whatever be the correctness of these findings it cannot be stated that the Tribunal arrived at such findings without proper consideration of materials on record. Several issues were presented before the Tribunal and were examined before coming to such specific finding. The Tribunal could not have recalled the entire order under purported exercise of rectification powers. It is well settled through series of judgements of this Court and the Supreme Court that power of rectification are circumscribed with the condition that the same can be exercised for correcting error be of law or facts apparent on record. The jurisdiction to correct errors vested in the Tribunal is not akin to review powers. As noted, the Accountant Member, while showing inclination to exercise rectification powers, had not cited any reason in support of his opinion

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DATE: June 25, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: November 13, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2006-07
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CITATION:
S. 253: Delay of 2819 days in filing the appeal caused by the fault of CA/ Counsel has to be condoned. the expression “sufficient cause” should be interpreted to advance substantial justice. If there is "sufficient cause", the period of delay cannot be regarded as excessive or inordinate (All judgements considered)

Under the scheme of Constitution, the Government cannot retain even a single pie of the individual citizen as tax, when it is not authorised by an authority of law. Therefore, if we refuse to condone the delay, that would amount to legalise an illegal and unconstitutional order passed by the lower authority. Therefore, in our opinion, by preferring the substantial justice, the delay of 2819 days has to be condoned

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DATE: October 8, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: November 13, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2013-14, 2014-15
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CITATION:
S. 253 Condonation of delay: An assessee supported by large number of CAs & Advocates cannot seek condonation of delay on the ground that the officer handling the issue was transferred. A party cannot sleep over its rights and expect its appeal to be entertained. The fact that the issue on merits is covered in favour of the assessee makes no difference to the aspect of condonation of delay

The assessee is a scheduled bank supported by a large number of personnel and also assisted by qualified Chartered Accountants and Advocates. The reason as come out from the condonation petitions filed by the assessee, as stated earlier, is that there was transfer of the officer who was handling the issue. We cannot accept such proposition as it cannot be considered as good and sufficient reason to condone the delay. It was submitted that the delay is to be condoned since the issue on merit covered in favour of the assessee. This submission ignores the fact that the object of the law of limitation is to bring certainty and finality to litigation

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DATE: October 23, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: November 13, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2011-12
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CITATION:
S. 4: Law on whether compensation received on closure/ termination of business activity resulting in loss of source of income, impairing its profit making structure or sterilization of profit making apparatus can be assessed as a revenue receipt or it is a capital receipt which is not chargeable to tax explained after referring to important judgements on the subject

Where, on a consideration of the circumstances, payment is made to compensate a person for cancellation of a contract which does not affect the trading structure of his business, nor deprive him of what in substance is his source of income, termination of the contract being a normal incident of the business, and such cancellation leaves him free to carry on his trade (freed from the contract terminated), the receipt is revenue : where by the cancellation of an agency the trading structure of the assessee is impaired, or such cancellation results in loss of what may be regarded as the source of the assessee’s income, the payment made to compensate for cancellation of the agency agreement is normally a capital receipt.

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DATE: April 16, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: November 9, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2003-04
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CITATION:
S. 147 Reopening of s. 143(1) intimation: The submission of the Dept that in view of Rajesh Jhaveri 291 ITR 500 (SC), the AO can reopen the assessment for "whatever reason" is preposterous. The AO cannot reopen on the basis of info received from DIT (Investigation) that a particular entity has entered into suspicious transactions without linking it to the assessee having indulged in activity which could give rise to reason to believe that income has escaped assessment. Such reopening amounts to a fishing inquiry. The AO has to apply his mind to the information received by him from the DDIT (Inv.) and cannot act on on borrowed satisfaction

The reasons clearly shows that the Assessing Officer has not applied his mind to the information received by him from the DDIT (Inv.). The Assessing Officer has merely issued a reopening notice on the basis of intimation regarding reopening notice from the DDIT (Inv.) This is clearly in breach of the settled position in law that reopening notice has to be issued by the Assessing Office on his own satisfaction and not on borrowed satisfaction

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DATE: November 5, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: November 9, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2014-15
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CITATION:
S. 10(38)/68 Bogus long-term capital gains from penny stocks: It cannot be inferred that the assessee has manipulated the share price merely because it moved up sharply. The AO has to produce material/evidence to show that the assessee/ brokers did price rigging/manipulation of shares. The AO must also show that the relevant evidence produced by the assessee in the form of bills, contract notes, demat statement, bank account etc to prove the genuineness of the transactions are false or fictitious or bogus (All judgements considered)

We note that in the absence of material/evidence the allegations that the assessee/brokers got involved in price rigging/manipulation of shares must therefore also fail. At the cost of repetition, we note that the assessee had furnished all relevant evidence in the form of bills, contract notes, demat statement and bank account to prove the genuineness of the transactions relevant to the purchase and sale of shares resulting in long term capital gain. These evidences were neither found by the AO nor by the ld. CIT(A) to be false or fictitious or bogus. The facts of the case and the evidence in support of the evidence clearly support the claim of the assessee that the transactions of the assessee were genuine and the authorities below was not justified in rejecting the claim of the assessee that income from LTCG is exempted u/s 10(38)