National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) publishes an ‘Audit Practice Toolkit’ to enhance audit quality in India Publish Date: November 4, 2025 The National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) has commenced issuing audit practice toolkits with a focus on supporting the small and medium practitioners engaged in the audits. This initiative is part of NFRA’s systemic drive to… Read More »
Mere Delay in Paying Admitted Tax is Not a “Willful Attempt” to Evade; Prosecution Quashed. Issue Whether a mere delay in paying the admitted self-assessment tax liability, which has since been cleared, constitutes a “willful attempt to evade tax” under Section 276C(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, and warrants criminal prosecution. Facts The assessee-company filed… Read More »
HC Quashes Assessment Order for Ignoring Assessee’s Replies on 194Q Disallowance. Issue Whether an assessment order passed under Section 144 (Best Judgment Assessment) is legally sustainable if the Assessing Officer (AO) completely ignores the assessee’s detailed replies and supporting documents submitted in response to the show-cause notices (SCN), particularly concerning a proposed disallowance under Section… Read More »
Order Passed 10 Years After ITAT Remand is Barred by Limitation. Issue Whether an assessment or order passed by an Assessing Officer (AO) or Transfer Pricing Officer (TPO) to give effect to an Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) remand direction is legally valid if it is passed ten years after the date of the ITAT’s… Read More »
Both Jurisdictional and Faceless AOs Have Concurrent Jurisdiction for Reassessment. Issue Whether the power to initiate reassessment proceedings by issuing a notice under Section 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, vests exclusively with the traditional Jurisdictional Assessing Officer (JAO), or if the Faceless Assessing Officer (FAO) also holds concurrent jurisdiction to issue such notices. Facts… Read More »
Writ Petition Dismissed as Infructuous; Final Assessment Order Was Already Passed and Unchallenged. Issue Whether a writ petition challenging only a reassessment notice (Section 148) is maintainable after a final assessment order has already been passed based on that notice, and that final order itself remains unchallenged by the assessee. Facts The assessee filed a… Read More »
Assessment Order Without DIN is Invalid and Deemed Never Issued, per CBDT Circular. Issue Whether an assessment order passed under Section 147, which does not quote a Document Identification Number (DIN) in its body as mandated by CBDT Circular No. 19/2019, is legally valid, and can this fundamental defect be cured by communicating the DIN… Read More »
State Government Grants for Infrastructure are Promoter’s Capital Contribution, Not Taxable Income. Issue Whether grants received by a state-owned infrastructure undertaking from the State Government, for the specific purpose of infrastructure development, are taxable revenue receipts or are non-taxable capital contributions from a promoter. Facts The assessee, a wholly-owned undertaking of the Government of Maharashtra,… Read More »
TP Adjustment Deleted as Transaction Was at Arm’s Length, Even With Imputed Margin. Issue Whether a downward transfer pricing adjustment (imputing a 2.5% commission) is justified on a ‘pass-through’ bareboat charter fee paid to an Associated Enterprise (AE), especially when the overall transaction, even with the imputed margin, is demonstrably at arm’s length. Facts The… Read More »
80G Rejection on Technicality Invalid; CIT(E) Must Decide Application on Merits. Issue Can the Commissioner (Exemptions) [CIT(E)] reject an application for regular approval under Section 80G on the technical grounds that the assessee (1) initially filed under the wrong sub-clause, and (2) the subsequent, corrected application was time-barred, without ever examining the merits of the… Read More »