Category: High Court

Archive for the ‘High Court’ Category


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DATE: October 13, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: November 26, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 2009-10
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CITATION:
S. 143(1)/ 147: If the assessment is reopened on the ground of “bogus purchases”, the reasons must contain an averment of which details on record reflect the bogus purchases

The returns filed by the assessee have been processed under section 143(1) of the Act. The Assessing Officer in the reasons recorded for the purpose of reopening the assessment has placed reliance upon the record of the case. As noted hereinabove, there is no assertion as regards on what basis the Assessing Officer has stated that the assessee had made claim in respect of bogus purchases in the trading and the Profit and Loss Account as expenditure. The Assessing Officer has stated that on verification of the details available on record, it has been noticed that the assessee has made bogus purchases; however, no specific averments are made as regards which details available on record reflected such bogus purchases

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DATE: November 6, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: November 23, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 2007-08
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Rule 10A(d): Law on when multiple transactions can be regarded as a single composite transaction for determining arm’s length price explained. Fact that a transaction results in a profit or a loss has no bearing on whether it is at arm’s length price

The answer to the issue whether a transaction is at an arm’s length price or not is not dependent on whether the transaction results in an increase in the assessee’s profit. A view to the contrary would cause considerable confusion and lead to arbitrary, if not illogical, results. A view to the contrary would then raise a question as to the extent of profitability necessary for an assessee to establish that the transaction was at an arm’s length price. A further question that may arise is whether the arm’s length price is to be determined in proportion to the extent of profit. Thus, while profit may reflect upon the genuineness of an assessee’s claim, it is not determinative of the same

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DATE: August 18, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: November 18, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 2008-09
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S. 37(1): Cost of Employees Stock Option (ESOP) debited to P&L A/c is allowable business expenditure

The question sought to be projected by the Revenue is whether the ITAT erred in deleting the addition of Rs. 1,28,19,169/- made by the Assessing Officer (‘AO’) by way of disallowance of the expenses debited as cost of Employees Stock Option (‘ESOP’) in profit and loss account?

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DATE: October 30, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: November 17, 2015 (Date of publication)
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S. 292C: The presumption that documents found during search correctly reflect the facts is a ‘discretionary presumption’ & not a ‘compulsory presumption’. The presumption does not apply if the documents are inchoate

Section 292 of the Act provides that where any documents are found in possession or control of any person in the course of search under Section 132 of the Act, then it may be presumed in any proceedings under this Act that the contents of such documents are true and correct. It will be noted that the section uses the word ‘may presume’ and not ‘shall presume’ or ‘conclusively presume’. The words ‘may presume’ are in the nature of discretionary presumption different from a compulsory presumption. Therefore this presumption has to be invoked by the authorities passing an order under the Act particularly when the invocation of such presumption is discretionary on the authorities

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DATE: September 17, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: November 17, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: -
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Allotment of residential accommodation to ITAT Members should be dealt with by the Govt fairly and on a high-priority basis to enable them to discharge judicial work efficiently

The learned Additional Solicitor General has stated that the matter of allotment of residential accommodation to members of the ITAT shall be dealt with fairly and on a priority basis. We are of the view that the same principle should be followed for the future so as to obviate writ petitions being required to be filed by members of the Tribunal or on their behalf before this Court. Unless proper accommodation is made available to the members of the ITAT, the work on the judicial side cannot be expected to be discharged with a degree of efficiency. This is a matter which should be dealt with on a high priority in all respects. We record the assurance of the ASG as noted above

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DATE: October 28, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: November 17, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 1986-87
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S. 37(1): Though eyes are an important tool for the performance of functions by a professional (solicitor), the expenditure on its treatment is personal expenditure and not business expenditure

No evidence has been brought on record to establish that in the absence of investigation and treatment, the applicant would be handicapped in discharging his obligation as a Solicitor/ Advocate. While at this, we cannot resist but point out that in this Court itself, we have a couple of visually challenged Advocates who are very competent in discharging their duties. Taken to its logical conclusion, then every and all expense incurred on daily living and food would be allowable as expenditure under Section 37 of the Act

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DATE: September 29, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: November 17, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: -
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S. 194LA: TDS provisions apply only when payment is made by cash, cheques etc and not to a case of exchange such as of land for Certificate of Development Rights (CDR/ TDR)

The concept of tax deduction at source (TDS) and depositing the same with the Revenue is where payment is made by cash, cheque, demand draft or any other similar mode. When such payment in terms of money is made, the deduction is to be made by the person responsible to pay, and is to deposit the same with the Income Tax Department, which would be adjusted and credited to the account of the person on whose behalf such amount is paid to the Income Tax Department, and in such a case, such person, who would then be an assessee before the Department, would be entitled to adjustment of the amount so deducted as TDS on behalf of the said assessee. When no payment is made by BBMP to the land owner in terms of money, such deduction is neither possible nor is conceived under Section 194LA

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DATE: July 31, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: November 16, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 2009-10
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S. 36(1)(iii): In a case where advances for non-business purposes are made from mixed funds, neither the AO nor the assessee can claim that the funds have come from a particular source and so the disallowance should be worked out on the basis of the average interest rate

The judgment of this Court in Commissioner of Income Tax-I, Ludhiana vs. M/s Abhishek Industries, Ludhiana [2006] 286 ITR 1 (P&H) does not deal with the question of the rate of interest to be applied in cases where the assessee has mixed funds available with it. We also agree with the Tribunal’s view that where mixed funds are diverted towards interest free advances the disallowance should be made up to the level of the average cost of debt to the assessee. There is no justification in taking into consideration the rate of interest in respect of any particular transaction where under an assessee avails advances on interest. An assessee may avail several advances from the same lender or from different lenders and at varying rates of interest. In the absence of anything to indicate that the interest free advance was made only from a particular corresponding advance received by the assessee, the advance made by the assessee would obviously be from the common pool of money. Money lying in a common pool has no identity. The various amounts advanced to the assessee get merged into a common pool. There is no justification then either for the assessee or for the department to take into consideration the rate of interest in respect of a particular advance or advances to the assessee. The only logical approach is to take into consideration the average interest rate at which the assessee has availed of the advances

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DATE: August 12, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: November 16, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 2006-07
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CITATION:
S. 68: If the identity and other details of the share applicants are available, the share application money cannot be treated as undisclosed income in the hands of the Co. The addition, if at all, should be in the hands of the applicants if their creditworthiness cannot be proved

The Court is of the view that the Assessee by produced sufficient documentation discharged its initial onus of showing the genuineness and creditworthiness of the share applicants. It was incumbent to the AO to have undertaken some inquiry and investigation before coming to a conclusion on the issue of creditworthiness. In para 39 of the decision in CIT v. Nova Promoters & Finlease Ltd. 342 ITR 169, the Court has taken note of a situation where the complete particulars of the share applicants are furnished to the AO and the AO fails to conduct an inquiry. The Court has observed that in that event no addition can be made in the hands of the Assessee under Section 68 of the Act and it will be open to the Revenue to move against the share applicants in accordance with law

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DATE: October 13, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: November 16, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 2005-06
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CITATION:
S. 275(1)(c): For penalty proceedings initiated on issues unrelated to assessment of income (such as for s. 269SS/ 269T & TDS defaults), time limit runs from date of initiation of penalty proceedings and not from date of CIT(A)'s order

Considering that the subject matter of the quantum proceedings was the non-compliance with Section 269T of the Act, there was no need for the appeal against the said order in the quantum proceedings to be disposed of before the penalty proceedings could be initiated. In other words, the initiation of penalty proceedings did not hinge on the completion of the appellate quantum proceedings. This position has been made explicit in the decision in CIT v. Worldwide Township Projects Limited (2014) 269 CTR 444 in which the Court concurred with the view expressed in Commissioner of Income-Tax v. Hissaria Bros. (2007) 291 ITR 244(Raj)