Category: Tribunal

Archive for the ‘Tribunal’ Category


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DATE: August 3, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: August 7, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2012-13, 2013-14
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CITATION:
S. 43CB/ 145: Entire law on taxation of real estate construction contracts explained in the context of 'completed contract' vs. 'percentage completion' with reference to Accounting Standards AS-7 and AS-9 and all important judgements on the point

In our considered view, provisions of AS7 cannot override the provisions of section 145 in so far as the computation of business income under the Income Tax Act for the purpose of determining income is concerned. In the instant case, we find that the learned Assessing Officer has brought no material on record to show that the system of accounting adopted by the assessee for the year under appeal was not consistently followed y the assessee or the system adopted was a defective system. In our considered view, even a project completion method is also a recognized system of accounting. Simply the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India has recommended the percentage completion method does not mean that project accounting or the same is a defective system of accounting

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DATE: June 20, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: August 4, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2010-11
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CITATION:
S. 2(22)(e) Deemed Dividend: The argument of the Dept, based on Gopal and Sons (HUF) vs CIT 77 TM.com 71 (SC), that even though the assessee-recipient of money is neither the registered nor the beneficial shareholder of the payer company, the money should be assessed as "deemed dividend" is not correct (Scope of Gopal and Sons (HUF) vs CIT explained)

So far as the reliance placed by the Revenue on the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Gopal and Sons (HUF) (supra) is concerned, the same, in our view, is quite inapplicable to the facts of the present case. Firstly, the assessee before the Hon’ble Supreme Court was a HUF and the issue was as to whether the loans and advances received by the HUF could be treated as ‘deemed dividend’ within the meaning of Sec. 2(22)(e) of the Act. Notably, in the case before the Hon’ble Supreme Court, the payment was made by the company to the HUF and the shares in the company were held by the karta of the HUF. It is in this context that the Hon’ble Supreme Court upheld the addition in the hands of the HUF as factually the HUF was the beneficial shareholder

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DATE: July 6, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: August 4, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2008-09
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CITATION:
Article 5 Permanent Establishment (PE): The duration of 12 months specified to constitute a PE is activity specific qua the site, construction, assembly or installation project. Preparatory work for tendering of contract cannot be included in the period. The activity qua the project comes to an end when the work gets completed and the responsibility of the contractor with respect to that activity comes to end. Onus is heavily upon the revenue to establish that that assessee’s activity had crossed the threshold period of 12 months

Auxiliary and preparatory activity, purely for tendering purpose before entering of the contract and without carrying out any activity of economic substance or active work qua that project cannot be construed as carrying out any activity of installation or construction. Clause (g) of Article 5(2) ostensibly refers to activity based PE, because the main emphasis is on “where such site project or activity continues for a period of more than 12 months.” The duration of 12 months per se is activity specific qua the site, construction, assembly or installation project. If the contract would not have been awarded, then any kind of preparatory work for tendering of contract cannot be reckoned for carrying out any activity as stipulated in this clause. Hence, in this case all such preparatory work for tendering purpose before entering into contract cannot be counted while calculating the threshold period.

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DATE: May 7, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: August 2, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2008-09, 2009-10
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CITATION:
S. 271(1)(c)/ 292B: The AO cannot initiate penalty on the charge of 'concealment of particulars of income', but ultimately find the assessee guilty in the penalty order of 'furnishing inaccurate particulars of income' (and vice versa). In the same manner, he cannot be uncertain in the penalty order as to concealment or furnishing of inaccurate particulars of income by using slash between the two expressions. Such error is not procedural but goes to the root of the matter and is not saved by s. 292B. The error renders the penalty order unsustainable in law

When the AO is satisfied that it is a clear-cut case of concealment of particulars of income, he must specify it so in the notice at the time of initiation of penalty proceedings and also in the penalty order. The AO cannot initiate penalty on the charge of `concealment of particulars of income’, but ultimately find the assessee guilty in the penalty order of `furnishing inaccurate particulars of income’. In the same manner, he cannot be uncertain in the penalty order as to concealment or furnishing of inaccurate particulars of income by using slash between the two expressions. When the AO is satisfied that it is a clear-cut case of `furnishing of inaccurate particulars of income’, he must again specify it so in the notice at the time of initiation of penalty proceedings and also in the penalty order. After initiating penalty on the charge of `furnishing of inaccurate particulars of income’, he cannot impose penalty by finding the assessee guilty of `concealment of particulars of income’

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DATE: July 16, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: August 2, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2010-11
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CITATION:
S. 10(38) Bogus long-term gains from penny stocks: The transaction cannot be treated as bogus until and unless a finding is given that the shares were acquired by the assessee from the person other than the broker claimed by the assessee. The enquiry conducted by the Investigation Indore is not a conclusive finding of fact in view of the fact that the shares were duly materialized & held in the d-mat account. Merely supplying of statement to the assessee at the fag end of the assessment proceedings is not sufficient to meet the requirement of giving an opportunity to cross examine. The AO cannot proceed on suspicion without any material evidence to controvert or disprove the evidence produced by the assessee

The decision of the AO holding the transaction as bogus and denying the claim of long term capital gain under section 10(38) of the Act is based on suspicion without any material evidence to controvert or disprove the evidence produced by the assessee. The enquiry conducted by the ITO Investigation Indore is not a conclusive finding of fact that the transaction of purchase of shares by the assessee is bogus particularly in view of admitted fact that these shares were held by the assessee and were duly materialized in the d-mat account. Therefore, until and unless a finding is given that the shares were acquired by the assessee from the person other than the broker claimed by the assessee, the mere suspicion how so ever strong may be, cannot be a basis of addition or disallowance of claim

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DATE: July 26, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: July 31, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2013-14
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S. 11: Entire law on what constitutes "advancement of objects of general public utility" so as to qualify as "charitable purpose" u/s 2(15) explained. Law also explained on the impact of carrying out incidental activity in the nature of trade, commerce or business in the course of actual carrying out of advancement of object of general public utility explained (All imp judgements referred)

To remove this anomaly, proper construction will be that the institution carrying out the object of advancement of general public utility which involve the incidental or ancillary activity in the nature of trade, commerce or business and generating income therefrom, the income to such an extent as is limited by the second proviso to section 2(15) of the Income Tax Act should be taken as exempt being treated as income from charitable purposes as per the relevant provisions of sections 2(15), section 10, section 11, section 12 or section 13, as the case may be and wherever applied. The other income which is not from the commercial activity, such as, by way of voluntary donations, contributions, grants or nominal registration fee etc. or otherwise will remain to be from charitable ITA No. 1382/Chd/2016- Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association, Chandigarh 94 purposes and eligible for exemption under the relevant provisions. However, the income from activity in the nature of trade, commerce or business over the above limit prescribed from time to time as per the second proviso to section 2(15) of the Income Tax Act, should be treated as income from the business activity and liable to be included in the total income. In this way, the receipts of incidental business income while carrying out the objects of advancement of general public utility, when these cross the limit prescribed u/s 2(15) of the Act, will not render such institute as non-charitable bringing into taxation its entire income including non-business income or even income from charitable activity itself including voluntary contributions and donations. Only the business income which will be over and above the prescribed limit will be subjected to taxation.

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DATE: July 20, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: July 28, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2014-15
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CITATION:
Bogus Capital Gains From Penny Stocks: In order to treat the capital gains from penny stocks as bogus, the Dept has to show that there is a scam and that the assessee is part of the scam. The chain of events and the live link of the assesee's action giving her involvement in the scam should be established. The Dept cannot rely on alleged modus operandi & human behavior and disregard the evidence produced by the assessee . All imp judgements referred

The issue for consideration before us is whether, in such cases, the legal evidence produced by the assessee has to guide our decision in the matter or the general observations based on statements, probabilities, human behavior and discovery of the modus operandi adopted in earning alleged bogus LTCG and STCG, that have surfaced during investigations, should guide the authorities in arriving at a conclusion as to whether the claim in genuine or not. An alleged scam might have taken place on LTCG etc. But it has to be established in each case, by the party alleging so, that this assessee in question was part of this scam. The chain of events and the live link of the assesee’s action giving her involvement in the scam should be established

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DATE: September 28, 2017 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: July 28, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2011-12
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CITATION:
S. 50C/ 54F: If the assessee has invested the entire sale consideration in new house property, the capital gains are exempt u/s 54F. The AO cannot apply s. 50C and treat the stamp duty valuation as the consideration and assess the difference between the stamp duty valuation and the actual valuation to capital gains (All judgements considered)

The consideration as determined under section 50C based on the stamp duty authority valuation is not a consideration which has been received by or has accrued to the assessee. Rather, it is a value which has been deemed as full value of consideration for the limited purposes of determining the income chargeable as capital gains under section 48 of the Act. Therefore, in the instant case, the provisions of section 54F(1)(a) are complied with by the assessee and the assessee shall be eligible for deduction in respect of the whole of the capital gains so computed under section 45 read with section 48 and section 50C of the Act

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DATE: July 19, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: July 21, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2001-02
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CITATION:
S. 32: Goodwill is an intangible asset. It falls under the expression "any other business or commercial rights of similar nature" and is eligible for depreciation u/s 32(1)(ii) of the Act. The question whether when a firm has been succeeded by a company and net assets of the firm have vested in the company, there is any transfer of goodwill in the real sense and whether the valuation of goodwill done by the assessee is erroneous has to be decided by the Division Bench

It is vivid from the discussion made supra that qua the issue of depreciation on goodwill, the authorities below have divided it into two broader compartments by holding that i) no depreciation can be legally allowed on the amount of genuine goodwill in terms of section 32 of the Act; and ii) when a firm is succeeded by a company and all its net assets vest in the company, there is no transfer of goodwill in real sense and further the valuation of goodwill done by the assessee in the instant case is fallacious

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DATE: June 13, 2018 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: July 18, 2018 (Date of publication)
AY: 2008-09
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CITATION:
S. 269SS/ 271D Penalty: It is not enough for the assessee to show that the transaction of taking loan/ deposit by cash is genuine or bona fide. It has also to be shown that there was reasonable cause u/s 273B for the assessee being unable to take the loan/deposit by account payee cheque or account payee bank draft

There is no dispute between the parties that bonafide nature of transactions alone would not be sufficient to escape the clutches of sec. 271D of the Act. As per the decision rendered by Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Kum. A.B. Shanthi (supra), it is required to be established that there was some bonafide reasons for the assessee for not taking or accepting loan or deposit by account payee cheque or account payee bank draft, so that the provisions of sec.273B of the Act will come to the help of the assessee. Only in such cases, the AO is precluded from levying penalty u/s 271D of the Act