Income Tax : The ruling clarifies that unauthenticated digital chats and screenshots cannot form the sole basis of tax additions without proper...
Income Tax : Examine the legal disputes surrounding Section 153D approvals for tax assessments, including court rulings on mechanical approvals...
Income Tax : ITAT Ahmedabad held that WhatsApp chats indicating suppressed production for one month could not be extrapolated to the entire fin...
Income Tax : The ITAT Delhi held that a common satisfaction note covering multiple assessment years without year-wise incriminating material co...
Income Tax : The Tribunal held that contradictory third-party statements and unverified allegations cannot form the sole basis for taxing alleg...
Income Tax : The Kerala High Court remanded the matter after finding that the ITAT failed to expressly adjudicate the challenge to the validity...
Income Tax : The Mumbai ITAT held that reassessment proceedings under Section 147/148 were invalid where the case was based on search material ...
The Tribunal ruled that once an assessment under Section 153A is approved under Section 153D, it cannot be revised under Section 263. This reinforces limits on PCIT’s revisional powers.
ITAT Delhi held that reopening of assessment under section 148 of the Income Tax Act on the basis of stale information results into change of opinion and the same is not sustainable in law. Accordingly, appeal is allowed and reopening is quashed.
The ITAT Delhi held that additions under Section 153A cannot be made without incriminating material found during search and set aside assessments for AYs 2013–14 and 2014–15.
The tribunal annulled assessment proceedings, holding that the approval under Section 153D was granted in a mechanical, non-application-of-mind manner without separate consideration for each year.
ITAT Chandigarh quashed an assessment order made under Section 143(3) for a pre-search year, holding that after a Section 132 search, the assessment must mandatorily proceed under Section 148 with proper Section 148B approval. The tribunal ruled that the Assessing Officer’s continuation of the scrutiny post-search was a jurisdictional error, making the assessment void ab initio.
The Tribunal held that the Assessing Officer rightly accepted excess stock and cash disclosed during survey as business income after enquiry. Section 115BBE was not applicable, and PCIT’s revision under Section 263 was invalid.
ITAT Chennai held that when sales are accepted and supported by records, entire purchases cannot be treated as bogus merely because suppliers were untraceable. Addition restricted to 12.5% as profit element.
Assessments framed under Section 153A based on mechanical approval under Section 153D were invalid in law as Additional Commissioner of Income Tax (Addl. CIT) had accorded omnibus and perfunctory approval to multiple draft assessment orders without application of mind, thereby vitiating the assessments.
The Delhi High Court dismissed the Revenue’s appeal, affirming that a prior approval for search assessments under Section 153D must involve the superior authority’s conscious application of mind. The Court held that approvals granted mechanically or through a single omnibus letter for numerous assessments are invalid, thereby quashing the assessment.
The ITAT struck down the additions, observing that the AO’s jurisdiction was potentially vitiated by a mechanical, consolidated approval for reopening, and the additions themselves relied solely on an uncorroborated statement and rough papers. The ruling confirms that unverified, rough documents lack sufficient evidentiary value to sustain income additions.
