Tax
Patna High Court Imposes ₹25,000 Costs On Taxpayer For Challenging GST Undertaking After Accepting Its Benefits
The Patna High Court, in the facts of the case, has held that a taxpayer who voluntarily furnishes an undertaking to obtain relief from GST authorities cannot subsequently challenge its validity after accepting the benefits flowing from it. It dismissed the writ petition filed by Umagaurav Private Limited and imposed costs of ₹25,000.A division bench of Justice Rajeev Ranjan Prasad and Justice Kumar Manish held that the petitioner, having secured the removal of restrictions on its bank account...
Gujarat High Court Faults CESTAT For 'Difficult To Decipher' Remand Order In Customs Classification Dispute
The Gujarat High Court has recently set aside a CESTAT order remanding a customs classification dispute, questioning how the tribunal directed the adjudicating authority to re-examine CBEC circulars despite an earlier Gujarat High Court judgment requiring the Union of India to undertake that exercise."We fail to understand how the Tribunal, in the facts of the present case, adopted the very same directions and remanded the matter to the Adjudicating Authority to re-look into the said Circulars,...
Bombay High Court Upholds ITAT Order, Says Tata Power's Broadband Trial Run Income, Scrap Sale Not Taxable
The Bombay High Court has recently dismissed an appeal filed by the Income Tax Department against The Tata Power Company Ltd. It held that income from trial runs of its broadband project and the sale of scrap generated before the project's installation were capital receipts not liable to tax.Observing that income generated before the commencement of business that is "inextricably connected with the setting up of a capital asset" is capital in nature and serves to reduce the cost of construction,...
Gujarat High Court Upholds Rule Requiring Agricultural Science Degree For Agricultural Land Valuers
The Gujarat High Court has recently upheld the constitutional validity of the requirement that applicants seeking registration as valuers of agricultural land must possess a degree in Agricultural Science. It held that the qualification bears a rational nexus with the object sought to be achieved under Rule 8A of the Wealth Tax Rules, 1957, and does not violate Articles 14 or 19 of the Constitution. "We find neither any ambiguity in the impugned provision nor any inconsistency between the...
GST Cannot Be Deducted From Compensation For Compulsory Land Acquisition: Karnataka High Court
The Karnataka High Court has recently quashed the deduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) from compensation awarded for compulsory acquisition of land, holding that such acquisition is not a "supply of goods or services" under the GST law."An immovable property cannot at any stretch of imagination is construed as goods. Therefore, there is neither supply of goods nor services, but an expropriation of the property of a citizen using statutory power. The petitioner has neither sold any goods nor...
Income Tax Amendment Of 2012 Allowing Officers To Dispute Any Property Value Not Retroactive: Gujarat High Court
The Gujarat High Court ruled that the 2012 amendment to Section 55A(a) of the Income Tax Act, which expanded the Assessing Officer's power to refer capital assets for valuation, cannot be applied retrospectively.The court ruled that assessments relating to the period prior to 1 July 2012 would continue to be governed by the unamended provision and, on that basis, quashed a reassessment notice issued to the assessee.A Division Bench of Justice A.S. Supehia and Justice Vaibhavi D. Nanavati passed...
Calcutta High Court Quashes GST Order, Says Notices Uploaded In 'Additional Notices' Tab Not Valid Service
The Calcutta High Court has set aside an ex parte GST adjudication order after holding that the taxpayer was denied a fair opportunity to respond to the show cause notice due to improper service of notices on the GST portal.It observed that the show cause notice, reminder, and adjudication order were uploaded only in the "Additional Notices and Orders" tab of the GST portal and not in the "Normal" tab. Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya held that such uploading does not amount to valid...
Punjab &Haryana High Court Grants Bail To Ludhiana Trader Accused Of ₹9.66 Crore Fake GST ITC Fraud
The Punjab & Haryana High Court has granted regular bail to a Ludhiana-based businessman accused of fraudulently availing Input Tax Credit (ITC) of nearly ₹9.66 crore under the GST regime.It observed that continued incarceration was not justified when the prosecution case was based primarily on documentary evidence.Justice Surya Partap Singh, while deciding the bail plea of Rohit Kumar Gupta, proprietor of Maa Steel, Ludhiana, noted that the petitioner had remained in custody for more than...
Uploading GST Notices On Portal Alone Is Not Valid Service Under CGST Act: Punjab & Haryana High Court
The Punjab & Haryana High Court has recently held that merely uploading a Show Cause Notice (SCN) or adjudication order on the GST common portal does not amount to valid service under the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act. It ruled that www.gst.gov.in has not been notified as the common portal for serving notices or orders under Section 146 of the Act.A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor observed, "We have no hesitation in accepting...
Gujarat High Court Quashes Reassessment Based On Presumption Drawn From Sister Concern's 'On-Money' Collection
The Gujarat High Court has quashed reassessment proceedings initiated under the Income Tax Act, holding that a completed assessment cannot be reopened merely on the presumption that an assessee collected unaccounted cash ("on-money") from buyers over and above the recorded sale price because its sister concern was found to have done so. The court held that the reopening against Datta Projects was based entirely on presumptions and surmises, without any material linking the assessee to...
Gujarat High Court Dismisses LANXESS Belgium's Writ Against Anti-Dumping Duty, Holds CESTAT Proper Forum
The Gujarat High Court on 7 July held that disputes concerning the methodology used by the Designated Authority to determine dumping and injury margins in anti-dumping proceedings must be raised before the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), and not through a writ petition unless exceptional circumstances exist. A Division Bench of Justices A.S. Supehia and Vaibhavi D. Nanavati dismissed the writ petition filed by Belgian exporter LANXESS Belgium N.V. challenging the...