Tax
Delhi High Court Refuses To Quash Reassessment Against Homebuyer Over Alleged Cash Payment To Builder
The Delhi High Court has refused to interfere with reassessment proceedings initiated against a taxpayer after documents seized from real estate group Bhutani Infra allegedly reflected a cash transaction linked to a flat purchase.A Division Bench of Justices Dinesh Mehta and Vinod Kumar observed that the notice issued under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act cannot be termed as without jurisdiction at the threshold.The petitioner/taxpayer had argued that the sole basis for reopening the...
Use of Tissue Culture Technology Does Not Bar Tax Exemption On Agricultural Income: Telangana High Court
The Telangana High Court has held that income earned from the sale of tissue-cultured plants qualifies as agricultural income and is therefore exempt from income tax, though advanced scientific techniques are used in their cultivation. The Bench of Justices P Sam Koshy and Narsing Rao Nandikonda heard a case where the assessee (appellant), who was engaged in the business of micropropagation of plants through tissue culture technology, claimed that the income from the same was exempt from tax as...
Madras High Court Quashes CESTAT Chennai Order For Deciding Issues Not Under Appeal
The Madras High Court has pulled up the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal, Chennai for overstepping its mandate, quashing its order and holding that the Tribunal cannot decide issues that were never appealed before it. A Bench of Justices Anita Sumanth and K. Govindarajan Thilakavadi said that although Section 129-B of the Customs Act, 1962 confers wide powers on the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal, those powers are not unbridled."It is true that Section...
Jharkhand High Court Scraps 'Net Charges' Formula For Electricity Duty Levy, Flags Excessive Delegation
The Jharkhand High Court on Monday struck down a proviso introduced by a state amendment to the Bihar Electricity Duty Act, 1948 that allowed electricity duty to be levied as a percentage of consumers' “net charges”. The court held that the legislature had delegated its taxing power to the executive without laying down any policy guidance. It further held that empowering the state government to fix electricity duty on a value-based formula, without prescribing standards or limits, amounted to...
CESTAT Delhi Quashes Customs Duty Demand On Bharti Airtel In Router Parts Classification Dispute
The Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal, New Delhi, on Tuesday quashed the levy of differential customs duty on telecom major Bharti Airtel Limited. It held that the imported router components were classifiable as “parts of routers” and not as “Network Interface Cards (NICs) or standalone communication apparatus” under the customs tariff. A coram comprising President Justice Dilip Gupta and Technical Member PV.Subba Rao allowed Bharti Airtel's appeal and set aside an order...
Can Service Tax Be Levied On Transfer of Development Rights? Delhi High Court To Decide
The Delhi High Court on Monday took up a Revenue appeal that squarely raises the question of whether the transfer of development rights constitutes a taxable service under the Finance Act, 1994. A Division Bench of Justices Nitin Wasudeo Sambre and Ajay Digpaul issued notice in an appeal filed by the Service Tax Department against an order of the Delhi Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), which had quashed a service tax demand of nearly Rs 5 crore raised on a real estate...
CESTAT Chandigarh Restores Customs Broker Licence Over Violation Of Regulatory Timelines
The Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) at Chandigarh has set aside the suspension of a customs broker's licence after finding that the authorities themselves failed to follow the timelines laid down under the Customs Broker Licensing Regulations, 2018. Calling the delay fatal, the tribunal directed that the licence be restored within four weeks. A coram of Judicial Member Justice S S Garg and Technical Member P Anjani Kumar said the time limits under the regulations...
CGST |Tripura High Court Reads Down Section 16(2)(c), Shields Bona Fide Buyers From ITC Denial
The Tripura High Court has read down Section 16(2)(c) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, holding that while Input Tax Credit can be claimed only if the tax charged by the supplier is paid to the Government, the provision cannot be applied to deny credit to a bona fide purchaser for the supplier's default.A Division Bench of Chief Justice M S Ramachandra Rao and Justice S Datta Purkayastha observed that while Parliament is competent to impose conditions on the availment of ITC,...
Income Declared Under VDIS Can Still Be Scrutinised If Higher Income Is Found: Madhya Pradesh High Court
The High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Jabalpur recently held that declaring income under the Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme, 1997 does not stop the income tax department from checking whether the correct income was disclosed, even though the scheme protects the assessee from being questioned about the source of that income. A Division Bench of Justice Vivek Rusia and Justice Pradeep Mittal said that VDIS gives only limited immunity. “The assessee is only protected from disclosing the...
Reassessment Notice To Non-Existent Firm Invalid: Bombay High Court Reiterates
The Bombay High Court has reiterated that proceedings initiated against a non-existent entity are invalid in law. A Division Bench of Justices B.P. Colabawalla and Amit S. Jamsandekar set aside a reassessment notice and a consequential assessment order issued under the Income Tax Act against a partnership firm that had merged into a private limited company years earlier. The case concerned a notice issued to J M Mhatre Infra Pvt. Ltd., described as an erstwhile partnership firm, seeking to...
Bihar Excise Act | Patna High Court Reduces Penalty From 50% To 30% For Release Of Rental Car Seized With Liquor
The Patna High Court has slashed a 50 percent penalty imposed for releasing a rental car seized with nearly 318 litres of liquor. It ordered that the vehicle be released on payment of 30 percent of its insured value and struck down an additional 3 per cent charge as illegal. A Division Bench of Justice Rajeev Ranjan Prasad and Justice Sourendra Pandey noted that the vehicle owner was not an accused in the case and said the confiscation orders needed correction. The court observed, “This Court...