The Delhi High Court, in the case of Genpact India, recently ruled that any unilateral adjustment of tax refund against penalty demand, without intimating the taxpayer or without a hearing, is untenable in law. The court quashed the refund adjustment by tax authorities and directed them to release amount within four weeks from the judgment. It observed that the revenue authority can make adjustments in accordance with law.

Common expense off tax holiday units

The Madras High Court, in the case of Hindustan Lever Ltd, recently held that administrative expenses necessary for running the taxpayer’s business and not relatable to any individual unit, but incurred in general ,need not be allocated to the qualifying units. Further, as there is no specific provision in the Income Tax Act for the apportionment of common expenses, they need not be allocated to the units qualifying for tax holiday. The court also observed that as the tax authority had no grievance against the Tribunal’s earlier order on a similar issue, there was no justifiable ground to deviate from it.

Stay of demand beyond a year

The Delhi Income Tax Appellate Tribunal in a recent ruling on Qualcomm Inc extended the stay of demand beyond 365 days as it observed that the delay in disposal of the appeal could not be attributed to the taxpayer alone. Additionally, it noticed that the taxpayer had complied with all conditions for payment of instalments on three earlier occasions when stay of demand was granted, and the tax department had no serious objection to the extension of stay. Further, in the absence of a decision by the jurisdictional high court and a cleavage of opinion among different high courts, a view favourable to the taxpayer had to be adopted.

Income tax e-filing portal revamped

The e-filing portal of the Income Tax Department has been revamped with additional features that allow a Chartered Accountant to submit Form 3CA, 3CB, 3CD, 3CEB and 29B electronically. The new procedure requires e-filing these reports with the digital signature of a CA, who should register with a login id/ password on the Web site. Similarly, taxpayers have to add the particulars of the CA in their profile and approve/ reject the uploaded report. If rejected, the process should be repeated.

comment COMMENT NOW