Income Tax – Deduction under Section 37(1) – Pharmaceutical companies' gifting freebies to doctors is "prohibited by law" and cannot be claimed as a deduction under Section 37(1) – Expenditure incurred by pharmaceutical companies for such freebies is inadmissible under the Income Tax Act – Court emphasizes the principle that no entity should benefit from an ac...
Taxation - Income Tax on Perquisites - Challenging Sections 17(2)(viii) and Rule 3(7)(i) of Income Tax Act and Rules regarding taxability of fringe benefits provided as concessional loans to bank employees - Bench upholds constitutionality of Section 17(2)(viii) and Rule 3(7)(i), dismissing the appeal - Held that the legislative intent was clear, and the rules did not constitute excessive delegati...
Service Tax – Exemption – Job Work vs. Contract Labour – Appellant entered into agreements to provide personnel for various activities, claiming exemption from service tax under Notification No. 25/2012-Service Tax dated 20 June 2012 – CESTAT held services were in the nature of contract labour and not job work – Agreement lacked specifications of job work and resemble...
Anticipatory Bail in Economic Offenses – Fraudulent Input Tax Credit Claim – Involvement of Chirag Goel and Chaman Goel in a GST Input Tax Credit fraud of Rs.200 crores – Accused obtained anticipatory bail which was challenged by the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) due to the serious nature of the economic offense and the attempt by Chaman Goel to leave the country...
Mutual Funds as Investment, Not Business – The Tribunal and CIT(A) held that transactions in mutual funds were investments, not stock-in-trade, based on factors like quantum, frequency, holding period, purpose, and disclosure in financial records. Gain on mutual fund redemption deemed as capital gain, not business income. [Paras 11-15]
Capital Contribution and Deemed Dividend &n...
Income Tax – Re-opening of Assessment – High Court quashes notice for re-opening assessment due to lack of tangible material – Supreme Court finds that objective material existed justifying re-opening based on search proceedings, seized documents, and statements under Section 132(4) – Assessment originally accepted under Section 143(1) without scrutiny, thus not shielding f...
Service Tax – Banking and Financial Services – Interchange Fee – Whether the interchange fee received by the issuing bank (Citi Bank) from the acquiring bank in credit card transactions is subject to service tax – Tribunal relied on the decision in M/s ABN Amro Bank NV v. Commissioner of Central Excise, Customs and Service Tax, Noida, holding interchange fee not liable to s...
Income Tax – Recalling of Earlier Order – Section 254(2) of Income Tax Act – Powers under Section 254(2) limited to rectifying mistakes apparent from record – ITAT’s jurisdiction does not extend to re-hearing appeals on merits – High Court’s affirmation of ITAT’s recalling order erroneous – Detailed submissions on merits by parties does not con...
Tax Law – Pre-deposit Requirement – Appellant deposited amounts under protest before the assessment order – Contended that these should be adjusted against the pre-deposit required under Section 26(6A) of the MVAT Act for filing an appeal – Supreme Court held that the plain language of the statute requires a deposit of 10% of the disputed tax liability in addition to any am...
Taxation – Exemption Notification – Conditions for Eligibility – The Supreme Court held that while exemption notifications should be liberally construed, the beneficiary must fall within the ambit of the exemption and fulfill the conditions thereof. If any conditions laid down in the notification are not fulfilled, the application of the notification does not arise. The Court emp...