Spillover Effect Dead Ends: SC’s Flipkart Verdict, Quashed AO Orders & Dawn of Income Tax Act 2025

Flipkart India Private Limited & Anr. Vs Competition Commission of India & Anr. (Supreme Court of India) Introduction For corporate taxpayers, the “spillover effect” is a persistent nightmare: the fear that adverse factual findings recorded by an Income Tax Assessing Officer (AO) during a routine scrutiny will be weaponized by other regulators like the Enforcement Directorate, SEBI, or the Competition Commission of India (CCI). The Supreme Court recently provided a massive safeguard against this in its February 2026 ruling, Flipkart India Private Limited & Anr. v. Compe...