Denial of Requested Personal Hearing Invalidates Faceless Reassessment Order. Issue Is a faceless reassessment order passed under Section 147 read with Section 144B of the Income-tax Act legally valid if the Assessing Officer (AO) passes it without granting a personal hearing, despite a specific request for the same by the assessee? Facts The assessee, a… Read More »
TP Adjustment on Royalty Deleted, Following Precedent and Assessee’s Benchmarking Issue Can a Transfer Pricing Officer (TPO) disregard the assessee’s benchmarking analysis for royalty payments and substitute it with a Nil or arbitrary valuation, especially when there is no basis to allege that the payment was not for genuine business purposes? Facts The assessee paid… Read More »
Society’s Activities Promoting Pharma-Doctor Networking Not a Charitable Purpose. Issue Can a society, whose primary activities involve organizing conferences for doctors funded by donations from pharmaceutical companies, be considered as having a “charitable purpose” of “medical relief” under Section 2(15), or are its activities promotional and contrary to public policy? Facts An assessee-society applied for… Read More »
IMPORTANT INCOME TAX CASE LAW 29.10.2025 Section Case Law Title Brief Summary Citation Relevant Act Section 11 Masoomeen Education Society v. Commissioner (Appeals), Sangli The claim for exemption under Section 11 cannot be denied merely for delay in filing the audit report if the assessee-trust uploaded Form No. 10B within the time allowed by the… Read More »
ITAT Lacks Power to Review Its Own Order Under the Guise of Rectification. Issue What is the scope of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal’s power to rectify its own orders under Section 254(2) of the Income-tax Act? Can the Tribunal recall a decided appeal to adjudicate a ground that was allegedly not considered, or does… Read More »
AO Must Refer Disputed Stamp Duty Value to DVO Before Making Section 50C Addition. Issue When a taxpayer objects to the stamp duty valuation of a property being higher than its fair market value, is it mandatory for the Assessing Officer (AO) to refer the matter to a Departmental Valuation Officer (DVO) before making an… Read More »
Reassessment Quashed as it Was Based on a Change of Opinion on Old Information. Issue Can an Assessing Officer (AO) validly initiate reassessment proceedings based on information that was not only available but was also specifically examined during both the original scrutiny assessment and a subsequent search assessment under Section 153A? Facts The assessee’s original… Read More »
Reassessment Notice Issued After Five Years Held Time-Barred and Quashed. Issue Is a reassessment notice issued under Section 148 for the Assessment Year 2016-17 legally valid if it is issued after the expiry of the statutory limitation period prescribed under Section 149 of the Income-tax Act? Facts The assessee, a trust, filed its income tax… Read More »
AO Must Refer Valuation to DVO When Registered Valuer’s Report is Disputed. Issue Can an Assessing Officer (AO), who is not a technical expert, reject a registered valuer’s report for determining Fair Market Value (FMV) and substitute their own valuation without making a mandatory reference to the Departmental Valuation Officer (DVO) as envisaged under Section… Read More »
Settlement of Foreign Patent Dispute is a Deductible Business Expense, Not a Penalty. Issue Whether a settlement payment made to a private party to amicably resolve a civil litigation for patent infringement in a foreign country is an allowable business expenditure under Section 37(1), or is it a non-deductible penalty for an “offense prohibited by… Read More »