PAN Misuse | Delhi High Court Quashes ₹3.91 Crore Income Tax Demand Against Security Guard

The Delhi High Court has quashed an income tax assessment order raising a demand of approximately ₹3.91 crore against a contractual security guard, observing that the assessment was based solely on portal data without any independent inquiry to establish his connection with the alleged transactions.The Division Bench of Justices Dinesh Mehta and Aditi Choudhary held that the assessment violated the principles of natural justice, as the Assessing Officer failed to provide the material relied upon...

Delhi High Court Refuses To Quash ₹8.12 Crore Income Tax Reassessment Notice Against Pernod Ricard

The Delhi High Court has refused to quash an income tax reassessment notice issued to Pernod Ricard India Private Limited, the maker of popular liquor brands Royal Stag and Blenders Pride, over an alleged discrepancy of more than ₹8 crore between its turnover declared in Value Added Tax (VAT) returns and its income tax records for the assessment year 2013-14.The Division Bench of Justices Dinesh Mehta and Aditi Choudhary dismissed the company's writ petition challenging the notice issued under...

Charitable Hospital Cannot Be Denied Income Tax Exemption For Charging Patients, Making Surplus: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court has ruled that a hospital seeking income tax exemption on philanthropic grounds cannot be denied the benefit merely because it earns a surplus, charges patients for treatment, or collects professional fees on behalf of consultant doctors. The question is whether its actual activities and use of funds establish that it exists solely for philanthropic purposes and not for profit.A division bench of Justice B.P. Colabawalla and Justice Farhan P. Dubash set aside orders passed...

Gujarat High Court Holds ₹50 Cr. Nirma Trademark Sale Non-Taxable For Unascertainable Acquisition Cost

The Gujarat High Court on 9 October held that the Rs. 50 crore received by Shantaben K. Patel from the sale of the 'Nirma' and 'Nima' trademarks was not taxable as long-term capital gains because their cost of acquisition was unascertainable. A Division Bench comprising Justices Bhargav D. Karia and Pranav Trivedi dismissed the Revenue's appeals against the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal's orders and upheld the Tribunal's findings on the taxability of the receipt, the binding nature of the...

Andhra Pradesh High Court Strikes Down Section 147A Of Income Tax Act As Unconstitutional

The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Monday struck down Section 147A of the Income Tax Act, 1961, as unconstitutional. Introduced retrospectively through the Finance Act, 2026, the provision clarifies that Jurisdictional Assessing Officers (JAOs), rather than the National Faceless Assessment Centre or an assessment unit, can act as the Assessing Officer for issuing reassessment notices under Sections 148 and 148A.A division bench of Justice Ninala Jayasurya and Justice T.C.D. Sekhar held that the...

Delhi High Court Refuses Refund Of ₹1 Crore Paid By Firm Towards Partner's Income Tax Dues, Calls It Inter-Se Dispute

The Delhi High Court has refused to direct a refund of ₹1 crore paid by a partnership firm towards the individual income tax dues of its partner, holding that the amount was voluntarily tendered and that the dispute essentially concerned an inter-se dispute between partners.The Division Bench of Justices Dinesh Mehta and Aditi Choudhary dismissed a writ petition filed by Surender Gupta, who sought refund of ₹1 crore along with interest. The amount had been paid through two fixed deposits of ₹40...

Employee Cannot Be Made To Pay Tax Already Deducted Due To Employer's TDS Default: Orissa High Court

The Orissa High Court has ruled that an employee cannot be made to pay income tax again to the extent tax has already been deducted from their salary, merely because the employer failed to deposit it or correctly report the deductions.A Division Bench of Justice Sanjeeb K. Panigrahi and Justice Murahari Sri Raman observed that employees should not suffer because of their employers' failure to deposit tax deducted at source (TDS) with the Income Tax Department.“As it is specific case of the...

Discount On Shares Issued Under ESOP Is Deductible Business Expenditure: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court has held that the discount arising from the allotment of shares to employees under an Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) constitutes revenue expenditure deductible under Section 37(1) of the Income Tax Act, 1961. A Division Bench of Justice Devan Ramachandran and Justice Basant Balaji dismissed the Revenue's appeal against Geojit Financial Services Ltd and affirmed the order of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Cochin Bench. The Court held that the difference...

How A Nation Taxes Its People Reflects Who Deserves Liberty, Right To Love: Same-Sex Partners Tell Karnataka HC In Tax Exemption Case

A same-sex couple has argued before the Karnataka High Court that the Income Tax law effectively makes them pay tax for expressing love for their partners, while married couples can exchange gifts without the same tax burden. Arguing that a nation's tax laws reflect the values it upholds, Advocate Dr. Dhruv Janssen Sanghvi, in a rejoinder, appearing for Anurag Kalia and Akhilesh Godi, a same-sex couple, submitted that excluding same-sex partners from the gift-tax exemption available to spouses...

Reassessment Notice For AY 2015-16 Issued In 2026 Time-Barred: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has quashed an Income Tax reassessment notice issued for Assessment Year (AY) 2015-16, holding that the notice issued in 2026 was clearly beyond the permissible limitation period under Section 149 of the Income Tax Act, 1961.The Division Bench of Justices Dinesh Mehta and Aditi Choudhary allowed a writ petition challenging the notice dated March 31, 2026, issued under Section 148 of the Act seeking to reassess Petitioner's income for AY 2015-16.Petitioner contended that the...

Income Tax Department Cannot Wait For Certified Copy When Digitally Signed Order Is Available: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court has ruled that the Income Tax Department cannot wait for a certified copy of a court order to compute the limitation period for completing an assessment when a digitally signed copy has already been received by the relevant tax authorities.“In this era of electronic filing and electronic uploading, and in order to alleviate difficulties of the litigants before us, this is a practice which this Court has adopted. Instead of asking a litigant to apply for a certified copy of...

Madras High Court Rules In Favour Of Mahindra Holidays On ₹158 Crore Membership Fees, Software Licence Tax Dispute

The Madras High Court has ruled in favour of Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India Ltd. on its accounting treatment of membership fees worth ₹158.43 crore. It also held that expenditure on domestic software licence renewals could not be disallowed merely because the company had deducted tax on software purchases from foreign suppliers.A Division Bench of Justice Anita Sumanth and Justice S. Raveekumar observed that the company could apportion membership fees over the membership period instead of...