This Digest of case laws is prepared by KSA Legal and AIFTP from judgements reported in BCAJ, CTR, DTR, ITD, ITR, ITR (Trib), Chamber's Journal, SOT, Taxman, TTJ, BCAJ, ACAJ, www.itatonline.org and other journals
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S. 28(i) : Business income -Providing warehousing services along with other facilities such as security service and other services to keep goods safe and under hygienic conditions, said activity systematically undertaken by assessee is assessable as business income and not as income from house property ,wrongly deduction of tax at source would not change character of income to rental income .As regards rejection of books of account and estimation of income was set a side to CIT(A) for re adjudication [ S. 22, 194I ]

DCIT v. Tewari Warehousing Co. (2018) 170 ITD 339 (Kol) (Trib.)

S. 12AA : Procedure for registration –Trust or institution- Mainly on ground that it was charging hefty fee from students registration cannot be refused as society is providing free education to needy students and free medical aid to needy patients [ S.2(15) ]

B.B. Educational Society. v. CIT (2018) 170 ITD 362 (Delhi) (Trib.)

S. 11 : Property held for charitable purposes – Providing knowledge, information, awareness, demonstrations, etc., to members of Fragrance and Flavours industry is charitable purpose hence entitle to exemption [ S.2(15) ]

Fragrance & Flavours Association of India. v. DIT (E) (2018) 170 ITD 312 (Mum) (Trib.)

S. 151 : Reassessment – Sanction for issue of notice -Reassessment proceedings couldn’t be quashed just because AO had obtained prior approval from higher authority [ S. 147, 148 ]

Mayurbhai Mangaldas Patel. v. ITO (2018) 407 ITR 238/302 CTR 349/166 DTR 73/ 256 Taxman 91 ( Guj) (HC) Editorial: Order in Mayurbhai Mangaldas Patel. v. ITO (2018) 168 ITD 317 (Ahd) (Trib.) is affirmed

Interpretation of taxing statutes – Income -tax -General principles -Taxing provisions must be construed strictly so that no person who is otherwise not liable to pay tax , be liable to pay tax

ACIT v. Bharat V. Patel (2018) 404 ITR 37/ 165 DTR 218 / 302 CTR 110 / 255 Taxman 324 (SC) , www.itatonline.org

S. 254(2): Appellate Tribunal-Rectification of mistake apparent from the record – Principles of Natural Justice – Judgments relied upon by the ITAT were not confronted to any of the parties – Mistake apparent on record – Ordewr recalled.

Hikal Ltd. v. CIT (Mum) (Trib.)

S. 271(1)(c) : Penalty – Concealment – Mistake of Tax Practitioner – Human error – Reasonable cause – Penalty deleted.

Shri Jagat Lodha v. ACIT (Mum) (Trib.)

S. 254(2A):Appellate Tribunal –Stay- Recovery-It is painful to note that the Dept officials in order to achieve targets at the close of the FY not only are tempted to ignore the principles of law and natural justice but cross their limits, in complete violation of the orders issued by judicial authorities. They are pressurised by higher officials to do so and they have to choose the lesser risky option of the two i.e. either to face the departmental action for not achieving targets or to face contempt proceedings. They choose the later option because perhaps they think that courts will not opt for strict view in case the amount coercively recovered is refunded after passing of the cut off date i.e. 31st March, and an apology tendered to the Court. [ S 226,254(1) ]

Greater Mohali Area Development Authority v. DCIT ( Chd)(Trib) , www.itatonline.org

S. 147: Reassessment- If the reopening is based on information received from the investigation dept, the reasons must show that the AO independently applied his mind to the information and formed his own opinion. If the reopening is done mechanically, it is void. Also, if the reasons refer to any document, a copy should be provided to the assessee. Failure to do so results in breach of natural justice and renders the reopening void.[ S.148 ]

Deepraj Hospital (P) Ltd. v. ITO ( 2018) 65 ITR 663 (Agra)(Trib) , www.itatonline.org/Charan Singh Ice and cold Storage ( P) Ltd v.ITO ( 2018) 65 ITR 663 (Agra)(Trib) www.itatonline.org

S. 80 : Return for losses – Unabsorbed depreciation and carried forward losses – A return filed u/s 153A is deemed to be a return filed u/s 139(1). Accordingly, the restrictive provisions of S. 80 do not apply. The return u/s 153A, once accepted and assessed, replaces the original return filed u/s 139. Therefore, the assessee is eligible for carry forward business loss [ S.139(1), 153A ]

ACIT v. Splendor Landbase Limited ( Delhi)(Trib) , www.itatonline.org