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DATE: July 20, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: July 29, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 1985-86, 1987-88
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CITATION:
S. 221: Penalty for failure to pay TDS in time can be levied even if the assessee voluntarily pays the TDS. Financial hardship, diverse locations and lack of computerization are not good excuses. The fact that CIT(A) decided in favour of the assessee & deleted the penalty does not necessarily mean that two views are possible

Parliament treats a person who has deducted the tax and fails to pay it to revenue as a class different from a person who has not deducted the tax and also not deposited the tax with revenue. This is for the reason that in the first class of cases the assessee concerned after deducting the tax, keep the money so deducted which belongs to another person for its own use. In the second class of cases, the assessee concerned does not take any advantage as he pays the entire amount to the payee without deducting any tax and does not enrich itself at the cost of the government. Therefore, although penalty is also imposable in the second class of cases, yet in view of the proviso to Section 201(1) of the Act, it is open to such assessee to satisfy the Assessing Officer that as they have good and sufficient reasons no penalty is imposable. It is in the above view that in the first class of assessees the Parliament has provided for prosecution under Section 276B of the Act for failing the pay the tax deducted at source

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DATE: June 17, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: July 29, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 1997-98
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CITATION:
Strictures passed regarding the "casual and callous" and "frivolous" manner in which senior officers of the dept authorize filing of appeals. Strictures also passed against counsel for acting as a "mouthpiece" of the Dept in persisting with unmeritorious appeals. CBDT directed to take appropriate action

Undoubtedly, an Advocate has to fearlessly put forth his client’s point of view, however the same has to be tempered /guided by truth and justice of the dispute. In matters of tax, justice requires that there must be certainty of law which presupposes equal application of law. Thus where the issue in controversy stands settled by decisions of this Court or the Tribunal in any other case and the Revenue has accepted that decision, then in that event the Revenue ought not to agitate the issue further unless there is some cogent justification such as change in law or some later decision of an higher forum etc

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DATE: June 17, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: July 29, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 1997-98
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CITATION:
S. 244A: Interest on income-tax refund received by a non-resident is not effectively connected with the PE (Permanent Establishment) either on asset test or activity test. Accordingly such interest cannot be assessed as business profits but has to be assessed as "interest" under Article 11/ 12

Interest on income tax refund is not effectively connected with the PE (Permanent Establishment) either on asset test or activity test. Therefore, taxable under the Article 11(2) of Indo Netherlands tax treaty

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DATE: June 30, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: July 29, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 1999-00
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CITATION:
S. 28(va)/ 115JA: non-compete consideration received prior to insertion of s. 28(va) is not taxable. Amount credited to reserves without a corresponding debit to the P&L A/c cannot be added to the "book profits"

To invoke clause (b) of the Explanation below Section 115JB (identical to Section 115JA) of the Act, two conditions must be satisfied cumulatively viz. there must be a debit of the amount to the Profit and loss account and the amount so debited must be carried to Reserves. Admitted position in this case is that there is no debit to the Profit and loss account of the amount of Reserves. The impugned order has in view of the self evident position taken a view that in the absence of the amount being debited to Profit and Loss account and taken directly to the reserve account in the balance sheet, the book profits as declared under the Profit and Loss account cannot be tampered with

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DATE: July 22, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: July 28, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 2007-08
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CITATION:
S. 2(47)(v)/(vi): Entire law on whether the entering into a joint development agreement with an irrevocable power of attorney in favour of the developer results in a "transfer" for purposes of capital gains explained

The concept of possession to be defined is an enormous task to be precisely elaborated. “Possession” is a word of open texture. It is an abstract notion. It implies a right to enjoy which is attached to the right to property. It is not purely a legal concept but is a matter of fact. The issue of ownership depends on rule of law whereas possession is a question dependent upon fact without reference to law. To put it differently, ownership is strictly a legal concept and possession is both a legal and a non-legal or pre-legal concept. The test for determining whether any person is in possession of anything is to see whether it is under his general control. He should be actually holding, using and enjoying it, without interference on the part of others. It would have to be ascertained in each case independently whether a transferee has been delivered possession in furtherance of the contract in order to fall under Section 53A of the 1882 Act and thus amenable to tax by virtue of Section 2(47)(v) read with Section 45 of the Act

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DATE: July 24, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: July 27, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 1989-90, 1991-92
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CITATION:
S. 32: A licensee who is in full control of the building and can exercise the rights of the owner in his own right is entitled to depreciation

The very concept of depreciation suggests that the tax benefit on account of depreciation legitimately belongs to one who has invested in the capital asset, is utilizing the capital asset and thereby loosing gradually investment caused by wear and tear, and would need to replace the same by having lost its value fully over a period of time

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DATE: July 13, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: July 20, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 2007-08
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CITATION:
Reliance on statements of third party without giving the assessee the right of cross-examination results in breach of principles of natural justice

There has been a breach of principles of natural justice in as much as the Assessing Officer has in his order placed reliance upon the statements of representatives of M/s Inorbit and M/s Nupur to come to the conclusion that claim for expenditure made by the appellant is not genuine. Thus the appellant was entitled to cross examine them before any reliance could be placed upon them to the extent it is adverse to the appellant

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DATE: July 15, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: July 20, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 2008-09
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CITATION:
S. 40(a)(ia): The obligation to deduct TDS is only with respect to "income". As amounts paid as "reimbursement of expenses" do not have the character of income, there is no obligation to deduct TDS

Section 194C (TDS for “work”) and Section 194J (TDS of income from “professional services”- the latter expression defined expansively by Section 194J (3) Explanation (a)). Neither provision obliges the person making the payment to deduct anything from contractual payments such as those made for reimbursement of expenses, other than what is defined as “income”. The law thus obliges only amounts which fulfil the character of “income” to be subject to TDS in such cases; for other payments towards expenses, the deduction to those entitled (to be made by the payeee) the obligation to carry out TDS is upon the recipient or payee of the amounts

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DATE: July 10, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: July 15, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 2000-01 to 2006-07
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CITATION:
S. 153C: Even if the AO of the searched person and of the "other person" (i.e. the assessee) is the same, the proper satisfaction has to be recorded before assuming jurisdiction over the assessee. Failure to record satisfaction renders the assessment order null and void

The fact that incidentally the Assessing Officer is common at both the stages would not extricate him from recording satisfaction at the respective stages. In that, the Assessing Officer is satisfied that the items referred to in Section 153C belongs or belong to a person (other than the person referred to in Section 153A), being sine qua non. He cannot assume jurisdiction to transmit those items to another file which incidentally is pending before him concerning other person (person other than the person referred to in Section 153A). The question as to whether that may influence the opinion of the Assessing Officer having jurisdiction over such other person, also cannot be the basis to take any other view.

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DATE: July 3, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: July 15, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11
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CITATION:
S. 37(1): The very nature of a license agreement is that it is not of a permanent nature. The fact that the payment is spread over a period of 10 yearst does not make the assessee the owner of the technical knowhow. The payment is not of an enduring nature

Although the payment is spread over a period of 10 years, it does not make the Assessee the owner of the technical knowhow. The very nature of the license agreement is that it is not of a permanent nature. The benefit to the Assessee as a result of payment of royalty for technical knowhow was not of an enduring nature, and therefore cannot be construed to be a capital expenditure

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