The Bombay High Court’s Tax Bench Constitution w.e.f 3rd January 2019 is as follows

The CBDT has issued Circular No. 7 / 2018 dated 20th December 2018 regarding the condonation of delay under section 119(2)(b) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 in filing of Form no. 10 and Form No. 9A by charitable trusts and institutions

Today, 20th December 2018, the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley introduced Companies (Amendment) Bill 2018 in the Lok Sabha as part of the efforts to promote the ease of doing business in the country

The CBDT has issued an Office Order No. 211 of 2018 dated 17th December 2018 by which the ad-hoc appointments of several Assistant Commissioners of Income-tax has been extended

The CBDT has issued a directive dated 14th December 2018 requiring the registration process of charitable trusts / institutions to be audited by Internal Audit Party. A detailed ‘Procedure of Internal Audit of the Process of Registration of Charitable Trusts’ has also been prescribed by the CBDT

The CBDT has revealed that its sleuths have busted a bogus donation racket under which an unrecognized trust raised substantial donations over the last six years on the basis of a forged certificate while the donors irregularly claimed weighted deduction u/s. 35(1)(ii) of the Act on donations made to the Trust. The CBDT has issued clear-cut instructions that all donors should be investigated and assessment orders should be passed under the monitoring of supervisory authorities

The CBDT has issued a directive dated 12th December, 2018 on the subject of exchange of information from field offices of time barring assessment cases

The CBDT has issued a letter dated 11th December 2018 by which it has issued an important clarification regarding the filing of low tax effect appeals by the Department as stipulated in Circular No. 3 of 2018 dated 11.07.2018 and letter issued vide No. 279 /Misc.142/2007 -ITJ(Pt) dated 20.08.2018

The CBDT has issued Instruction No. 10 dated 6th December 2018 by which it has specified the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that has to be followed by Assessing Officers when dealing with ITR Processing or Assessment in suspected Fraud cases

The CBDT has issued a directive dated 7th December 2018 in which it has issued important directives regarding non-removal/delay in removal of defects of pending appeals before Hon’ble High Courts. It is made clear that the PCIT/CIT is personally responsible to ensure proper filing of appeals in High Courts & consequential follow up action. They have been warned that any lapse in this regard will be viewed seriously