Employees Liable To Pay Tax Even If Employer Deducts TDS but Fails To Deposit It: Kerala High Court

Holding that employees cannot avoid their income tax liability merely because their employer deducted tax at source from their salaries but failed to deposit it with the Income Tax Department, the Kerala High Court has ruled that the statutory protection under Section 205 of the Income Tax Act applies only when the deducted tax is actually paid to the Central Government. A division bench of Justice A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice Jobin Sebastian madethe ruling while dismissing writ...

Bombay High Court Quashes Special Audit Order For Want Of Mandatory DIN

The Bombay High Court has held that an approval for a special audit issued without a Document Identification Number (DIN) is invalid and deemed never to have been issued. A Division Bench of Justice B P Colabawalla and Justice Firdosh P Pooniwalla allowed a writ petition filed by assessee Sanjay Nathalal Shah and quashed a special audit ordered for Assessment Year 2023–24 . Relying on a CBDT circular issued in August 2019, which mandates that every communication, including statutory approvals,...

ITAT Delhi Quashes Revision Order, Says Tax Dept. Cannot Expand Limited Scrutiny Assessment

The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Delhi Bench, has quashed a revision order passed against an individual taxpayer, holding that the tax department cannot expand a limited scrutiny assessment by invoking its revisionary powers.A coram comprising Judicial Member Yogesh Kumar U.S. Accountant Member S. Rifa'ur Rahman held that the Principal Commissioner of Income Tax had wrongly invoked Section 263 of the Income Tax Act which allows revision of an assessment only if it is both erroneous and...

Income Tax Dept Cannot Reopen Assessment on New Grounds Without Due Notice: Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court has recently held that the income tax department cannot reopen a completed assessment by raising new issues without first following the mandatory procedure under the Income Tax Act. On this basis, the court set aside the reassessment notice issued against a government-owned company. Under the tax law, Sections 148 and 148A require the department to first issue a detailed notice explaining why it believes income may have escaped tax, give the taxpayer an opportunity to...

Immunity From Penalty Cannot Be Denied Once Conditions Under Income Tax Act Are Met: Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court has recently clarified that the income tax department cannot deny immunity from penalty for under-reporting of income once a taxpayer meets the conditions prescribed under the law.A bench of Justice Om Narayan Rai said Section 270AA of the Income Tax Act leaves no discretion with the Assessing Officer. The provision allows immunity where the taxpayer has paid the tax demand, has not filed an appeal, and has applied for immunity within the prescribed time. It also requires...

Income Tax | Shares Received On Amalgamation Can Be Taxed as Business Income If Held As Stock-in-Trade: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has held that when shares held as stock-in-trade are replaced with shares of another company under an amalgamation scheme, the allotment can result in taxable business income, provided the new shares can be realised in money and have a definite value. The bench, consisting of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan, opined that "where the shares of an amalgamating company, held as stock-in-trade, are substituted by shares of the amalgamated company pursuant to a scheme of...

Delhi High Court Pulls Up Income Tax CPC For Tax Recovery Despite Stay, Issues Directions For Coordination

The Delhi High Court has pulled up the Income Tax Department's Centralised Processing Centre for recovering tax dues from a taxpayer even though a stay on recovery was already in place, saying such lapses are unacceptable in a fully digitized system. A division bench of Justices Dinesh Mehta and Vinod Kumar said the department cannot plead ignorance once a stay order is passed. “In the era of computerization, where even assessments are made online, Income Tax returns are filed online, appeals...

ITAT Upholds Deletion Of ₹25.55-Crore Income Tax Addition On Everest Food Over Alleged Bogus Purchases

The Mumbai Bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal has recently upheld the deletion of a Rs 25.55 crore income tax addition against Everest Food Products Pvt. Ltd., a Mumbai-based company that manufactures and sells masala and spices under the popular “Everest” brand. A bench of Judicial Member Kavitha Rajagopal and Accountant Member Vikram Singh Yadav dismissed the revenue's appeal, agreeing with the Commissioner (Appeals) that purchases cannot be treated as non-genuine solely because...

Income Tax | Delhi High Court Bars Tax Recovery After Taxpayer Pays 20% Of Disputed Demand

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday restrained the Income Tax Department from taking any recovery action, including adjusting refunds, after it orally observed that the taxpayer had already paid 20% of the disputed tax demand and had the balance stayed during the pendency of the appeal. A Division Bench of Justice Dinesh Mehta and Justice Vinod Kumar was hearing a petition filed by a trader who had filed his return for Assessment Year 2021–22. The tax demand arose after additions were made to the...

"Shocking": Delhi HC Pulls Up IT Dept For 8-Year Delay In Processing ₹5.37 Crore Microsoft Refund

The Delhi High Court has pulled up the Income Tax Department over “shocking” eight years delay in processing Rs 5.37 crore tax refund to Microsoft Corporation India.A Division Bench of Justices Dinesh Mehta and Vinod Kumar allowed the writ petition filed by Microsoft India seeking refund of amounts arising from Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT), which had been acknowledged as payable as far back as in June 2017.The court noted that while the Assessing Officer had determined refundable amounts of Rs 6.94...

Income Tax | Manual Returns Invalid After E-Filing Became Mandatory For Companies on May 14, 2007: Madras High Court

The Madras High Court has held that from May 14, 2007, companies had to file their income tax returns electronically, and that paper returns filed after that date carry no legal validity A bench of Justices Anita Sumanth and Mummineni Sudheer Kumar rejected a claim for deduction under Section 80-IC of the Income Tax Act, holding that electronic filing of returns was a mandatory requirement for availing the benefit. The case reached the High Court after the Income Tax Department filed an appeal...

Belated Deposit Of TDS Doesn't Extinguish Criminal Liability Under Income Tax Act: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has held that the subsequent or belated deposit of tax deducted at source (TDS) does not absolve an assessee or company officials of criminal liability under Section 276B of the Income Tax Act, 1961.Justice Amit Mahajan thus dismissed the petition filed by a company's Managing Director, seeking quashing of a criminal complaint and summoning order in a case relating to delayed deposit of TDS amounting to over ₹2.09 crore for the financial year 2017–18.The plea challenged the...