Tax
Bombay High Court Denies Anticipatory Bail To Tax Consultant Accused Of Misusing ₹45 Lakh Meant For GST Payment
The Bombay High Court has refused anticipatory bail to a tax consultant accused of retaining over ₹45 lakh given to him by a client for GST payments and allegedly preparing fake GST bills to show that the amount had been deposited with the government.Justice Madhav J. Jamdar was hearing an anticipatory bail application filed by Rakesh Rajendra Thakur, who was booked under Sections 316(2) and 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, for criminal breach of trust and cheating.The court...
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...
GSTAT Bengaluru Blocks Resort Construction ITC, Rules Safari Retreats Functionality Test Inapplicable
The Bengaluru Bench of the GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) on 30 September held that the functionality test laid down by the Supreme Court in Chief Commissioner of CGST v. Safari Retreats (P) Ltd. cannot be applied to claim Input Tax Credit (ITC) on the construction of a hotel or resort building, particularly after the retrospective amendment to Section 17(5)(d) of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act, 2017. A Bench comprising Judicial Member Prabhakaran P.M. and Technical Member...
Customs Can't Withhold Detained Goods Without Stay Of Confiscation Order: Delhi High Court
The Delhi High Court has observed that merely because the Customs Department has challenged an order before a revisional authority, it cannot withhold detained goods in the absence of any interim protection or stay against the operation of the order.The Division Bench of Justices Avneesh Jhingan and Shail Jain made the observation while dealing with a petition filed by a woman seeking release of her gold jewellery detained by Customs authorities at the Delhi airport.Petitioner had arrived from...
GSTAT Bengaluru Sets Aside ₹20.13 Lakh Penalty On Valuecart For E-Way Bill Lapse, Imposes ₹25,000 Fine
The Bengaluru Bench of the GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) on 30 September partly allowed an appeal filed by Valuecart Private Limited against a penalty of Rs. 20,13,640 imposed under Section 129 of the Central and Karnataka Goods and Services Tax Acts, and reduced the penalty to Rs. 25,000 under Section 125 of the GST Acts for the procedural lapse. A Bench comprising Technical Member Sudha Koka and Judicial Member Srikanth Venkatraman held that failure to generate a fresh e-way bill for...
DRI/CBIC Headquarters In Delhi Cannot Confer Jurisdiction Over Goods Detained In UP: Delhi High Court
The Delhi High Court has held that the location of the headquarters of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) or the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) in Delhi does not confer territorial jurisdiction on the High Court to entertain a challenge against detention of goods at an Inland Container Depot (ICD) in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh.The Division Bench of Justices Avneesh Jhingan and Shail Jain dismissed a writ petition filed by M/s Pradeep Industries and others, holding that...
GST Appeals Can't Be Dismissed Without Hearing Taxpayer On Pre-Deposit Shortfall: Bombay High Court
The Bombay High Court on 12 October held that a GST appeal cannot be dismissed for a shortfall in mandatory pre-deposit without first giving the taxpayer notice or an opportunity to rectify the defect. A Division Bench of Justices M.S. Karnik and Sandesh D. Patil set aside the rejection of an appeal filed by Bhagyoday Agro Industries against a GST demand of approximately Rs. 14.77 crore. They observed: “The Appellate Authority ought to have applied the well settled principle that when an...
Service Tax | Delhi High Court Deprecates Practice Of Issuing Clarifications To Bypass Advance Ruling Mechanism
The Delhi High Court has deprecated the practice of service tax authorities issuing clarifications to bypass the statutory mechanism of advance rulings for determining tax liability.The Division Bench of Justices Avneesh Jhingan and Shail Jain made the observation while disposing of a writ petition filed by Bajaj Capital Ltd., which had challenged a 2007 communication issued by the Commissioner of Service Tax, Delhi, regarding the applicability of service tax to its activities.Bajaj Capital was...
Sales Tax | Whether C-Form Acknowledges Liability To Extend Limitation Requires Evidence: Delhi High Court
The Delhi High Court has recently ruled that whether a C-Form issued under the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 (CST Act), certifying a transaction between registered dealers, amounts to an acknowledgment of debt, must be examined on the facts and evidence. The question cannot be decided at the threshold stage while considering an application to reject a plaint under Order VII Rule 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC).The Division Bench of Justices Avneesh Jhingan and Shail Jain made the...
LiveLawBiz Direct Tax Weekly Round-Up: October 05 - October 11, 2026
SUPREME COURTSupreme Court Refuses To Interfere With Delhi HC Order Reading Down CBDT Circular On AIF TaxationCase Title : THE CENTRAL BOARD OF DIRECT TAXES VS. EQUITY INTELLIGENCE AIF TRUST Case Number : DIARY NO. - 2801/2026The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to interfere with the Delhi High Court judgment reading down CBDT Circular No.13/2014 concerning taxation of Category-III Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) at the Maximum Marginal Rate (MMR). Allowing Equity Intelligence's writ...
GST Notices Not Invalid Without Visible Digital Signature If Authenticated On Portal: Telangana High Court
The Telangana High Court has recently held that GST show-cause notices and adjudication orders cannot be invalidated merely because downloaded PDF copies do not display a visible digital signature. This is provided they have been electronically authenticated by the proper officer and uploaded on the GST common portal.“The case of the petitioners based upon the contention that the PDF format does not contain the visible digital signature of the proper officer is untenable in law,” the Full Bench...
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...