06/12/2025
SUPREME COURT LANDMARK JUDGEMENT: Applicability of GST Exemption on Renting Residential Premises as Hostels to Students and Working Professionals (Pre-2022 Amendment)
✅ The dispute involved whether renting a residential premises to a company, which then used it as a hostel for students and working professionals, is eligible for GST exemption.
✅ Entry 13 of Notification No. 9/2017 exempts “renting of residential dwelling for use as a residence”.
✅ AAR and AAAR denied the exemption, stating: The immediate lessee (a company) was not using the premises as its own residence. A hostel does not qualify as a “residential dwelling”.
✅ The High Court disagreed and allowed the exemption, holding that the end-use for residence is what matters.
✅ The Supreme Court upheld the High Court and dismissed the State’s appeal.
(THE STATE OF KARNATAKA & ANR. VS TAGHAR VASUDEVA AMBRISH & ANR.)
17/11/2025
Supreme Court protects Practicing Chartered Accountant : Held that merely issuing Form 15CB under the Income-Tax Act does not amount to abetment of money laundering.
In this case, a Chartered Accountant had issued Form 15CB for remittances related to import of goods, as required by the bank. Later, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) alleged that the company had illegally transferred money abroad and accused the CA of abetting the offence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The Madras High Court, while granting relief, observed that:
“A Chartered Accountant is not required to verify the genuineness of documents submitted by clients. His role is akin to that of a panel lawyer of a bank, who provides a legal opinion on title deeds without investigating their authenticity. Such professionals cannot be prosecuted along with the principal offender.”
The Supreme Court upheld this reasoning, affirming that the CA cannot be held criminally liable merely for performing his statutory duty under tax law.
[Murali Krishna Chakrala v. The Deputy Director, Directorate of Enforcement, Chennai - [2023] 457 ITR 579 (Madras HC)]
[The Deputy Director v. Murali Krishna Chakrala — SLP (Criminal) Diary No. 8123/2024 (Supreme Court)]
21/09/2025
Capital Gain From Land Gifted By Husband To Wife Taxable In Hand Of Husband And Not Wife: ITAT
Read the (Bangalore) Tribunal Order:
Citation: [2025] 178 taxmann.com 266 (Bangalore-Trib.)
12/02/2025
*Key Changes proposed in the Income Tax Bill 2025*
*1. Simplification & Clearer Tax Structure*
• The Bill aims to reduce complexity by incorporating provisions from circulars, notifications, and case laws directly into the law.
• Clause 2 defines key terms used in the legislation.
*2. New Income Tax Regime for Individuals & Businesses*
• Clause 200 & 201: Provide optional concessional tax rates for domestic companies and new manufacturing firms.
• Clause 203 & 204: Introduce incentivized tax rates for cooperative societies and start-ups.
*3. Capital Gains & Digital Assets*
• Clause 196-198: Define taxation of short-term and long-term capital gains, distinguishing between equity and non-equity assets.
• Clause 194: Taxation of Virtual Digital Assets (cryptocurrency, NFTs) and online gaming winnings is clarified.
*4. Enhanced Compliance & Reporting Mechanisms*
• Clause 509: Requires detailed reporting of crypto transactions.
• Clause 510: Mandates Annual Information Statements (AIS) for better taxpayer transparency.
• Clause 511: Enforces international tax reporting for cross-border transactions.
*5. General Anti-Avoidance Rule (GAAR) & Tax Avoidance Measures*
• Clause 179-184: Strengthens General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR) to combat tax evasion strategies.
• Clause 185-188: Introduces strict restrictions on cash transactions above ₹2 lakh.
*6. Taxation of Salaried Employees*
• Clause 134: Increases HRA deduction for individuals not receiving HRA.
*7. Procedural Changes & Powers of CBDT*
• Grants CBDT greater procedural powers to frame schemes and rules, similar to GST.
• Clause 526: Bars civil courts from interfering in tax matters, ensuring direct tax administration authority.
18/11/2024
The CBDT has launched a Compliance-Cum-Awareness Campaign for Assessment Year (AY) 2024-25 to assist taxpayers in accurately completing Schedule Foreign Assets and reporting income from foreign sources in their ITRs.
➡️ As part of this campaign, informational messages will be sent via SMS and email to resident taxpayers who have already submitted their ITR for AY 2024-25.
➡️ These messages are intended for individuals identified through information received under bilateral and multilateral agreements, suggesting that they may hold foreign accounts or assets, or have received income from foreign jurisdictions.
➡️ The purpose is to remind and guide those who may not have fully completed Schedule Foreign Assets in their submitted ITR for AY 2024-25, especially in cases involving high-value foreign assets.
➡️ The CBDT expects all eligible taxpayers to take advantage of this opportunity to fulfil their tax responsibilities and contribute to the nation's economic development.
➡️ The effort is in line with the government's aim to foster a culture of transparency, accountability, and voluntary compliance. Details in Press Release at:
CBDT launches Compliance-Cum-Awareness Campaign for AY 2024-25 to assist taxpayers in accurately completing Schedule Foreign Assets and reporting income from foreign sources in ITR
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has launched a Compliance-Cum-Awareness Campaign for Assess
06/05/2022
TAX ASSESMENT IT HAS 30 Days to send NOTICE
With the Supreme Court upholding the reassessment notices issued before the amendment to the Income Tax Act through the Finance Act, 2021, taxpayers will have a time period of two weeks to respond to the notices sent by the tax department, experts said.
According to the top court’s judgment, the assessing officer will, within 30 days from May 4, provide the respective assesses the information and all relevant material which was relied upon to send the income tax recovery notice to them. Following the receipt of the notice, the assesses will have up to two weeks to respond to the notice, said Maneet Pal Singh, partner at accounting firm I.P. Pasricha & Co, said.
Around 90,000 notices were issued under the old Section 148 even after passage of Finance Act 2021. They were appealed in high courts of Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay, where the courts quashed the reassessment notices. “All such notices issued beyond the limitation period of 31st March, 2021 shall now be valid and thousands of taxpayers who had been served with a notice shall have to prepare themselves for the reassessment proceedings,” Singh said.
The ruling now also implies that all reassessment notices hereon issued under Section 148 of the Act will be deemed to have been issued under Section 148A, as amended earlier this year. Section 148 of the Income-Tax Act deals with notice in case the income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment for the relevant assessment year and the Assessing Officer has obtained prior approval of the specified authority to issue such notice.
Section 148A, on the other hand, deals with conducting inquiry, providing opportunity of being heard to the assessee. Before issue of notice under Section 148, the assessing officer has to provide an opportunity of being heard to the assessee, by serving him a notice to show cause with the time being not less than seven days and not exceeding thirty days from the date on which such notice is issued. As per the time limitation clause, a notice cannot be issued in normal scenarios if three years have elapsed since the end of the relevant assessment year. However, notice beyond three years can be taken up only if there is evidence that the taxpayer has evaded an assessment of taxable income of at least Rs 50 lakh. In certain cases, notice can be issued beyond 3 years but only up to 10 years from the end of the relevant assessment year.
On Wednesday, a two-judge Supreme Court Bench of Justices M R Shah and B V Nagarathna held that the notices issued to assessees after the cut-off date of March 31, 2021 will be deemed valid under the new section 148 (A) of the Income Tax act as a one time measure.
Tax experts said that the reassessment proceedings are not revived in all the 90,000 cases, but as way forward to the ruling, all reassessment notices will be deemed to have been issued under the amended section.
“If the reassessment notices are considered to be valid even under the new amended law, then taxpayers will now need to be ready to file their ITR in response to the reassessment notice and be ready with all the necessary records, documents and explanations for questions expected to be asked by Income tax authorities in relation to these reassessment proceedings
Source Indian Express
25/02/2018
Errors in GST returns filing a hurdle in issuing tax refunds to exporters: CBEC
Errors in GST returns, pertaining to either the summary of transactions, purchases, sales or a comprehensive filing of transactions are causing delays in processing claims, says CBEC chief Vanaja SarnaErrors in GST returns filing are coming in the way of disbursing tax refunds to exporters covered by the goods and services tax regime, according to Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) chairperson Vanaja Sarna.
In an interview, Sarna said a third of the total dues to exporters have already been disbursed as the documents are clear.Claims worth more than Rs4,000 crore for dues under integrated GST (IGST) have been processed, she said. Total IGST refunds due to exporters since July, the first month of the tax, stand at about Rs13,000 crore.
GST Network, the company that processes tax returns under the new indirect tax regime, is unable to process the remaining claims on account of errors and mismatches in the returns filed.“Our officers are working 24x7 to make sure that taxpayers rectify the errors in their returns so that we can disburse the refunds,” Sarna said, adding that multiple outreach programmes have been held to get these errors corrected.
She added that errors in GST returns pertaining to either the summary of transactions, purchases, sales or a comprehensive filing of transactions are causing delays in processing the claims.While large businesses carry out these filings every month, businesses up to Rs1.5 crore in sales are allowed to file on a quarterly basis.
Taxes that go into export production are refunded to ensure that exports remain competitive in international markets. The GST Council, the federal indirect tax body chaired by finance minister Arun Jaitley, has been making efforts to minimize delays so that exporters do not face any liquidity crunch. The council is working on evolving an e-wallet facility to solve the issue of refunds.
Ajay Sahai, director general and chief executive officer of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations, said that procedures need to be simplified to ensure that exporters, who have already paid taxes are issued refunds expeditiously. “In the absence of quick refunds, small and medium enterprises may be forced to forgo export orders, preventing them from participating in global economic growth,” Sahai said.
The Mint, New Delhi, 24th February 2018
24/01/2018
IMF Report says India Stays Ahead of China in FY17 Growth Rate
World Economic Outlook has revised upwards India’s growth forecast to 6.8% from 6.6%, just ahead of China’s 6.7%
India will not have to surrender its fastest growing major economy tag to China in the near future and will record slightly higher growth rate than its bigger neighbour for last year despite a slowdown due to demonetisation, International Monetary Fund says.
World Economic Outlook (WEO), the fund’s flagship publication, has revised upwards India’s growth forecast for FY17 to 6.8%, just ahead of China’s 6.7% for 2016 calendar. IMF has retained its India growth forecast for FY18 at 7.2% and FY19 at 7.7%, well ahead of its forecast for China.In its January review, the Fund had slashed India’s growth estimate to 6.6% for FY17, below China’s growth rate for 2016, citing demonetisation disruptions.
GLOBAL RECOVERY
According to WEO, the global economy is expected to do better with 3.5% growth in 2017 against 3.1% in 2016 on the back of better growth in the US and the emerging market pack, but Euro zone is likely to continue to grow at current pace.
China gets a small bump up for both 2017 and 2018 at 6.6% and 6.2% growth forecast, respectively, against earlier estimate of 6.5% and 6.4%, and, together with Russia and India, it will lift emerging market growth. The US is likely to grow 2.3% in 2017 and 2.5% in 2018 against 1.6% in 2016.
“Global economic activity is picking up with a long awaited cyclical recovery in investment, manufacturing, and trade,” IMF said in the report even as it warned that structural impediments to stronger recovery remain, and balance of risk remains on downside.
IMF called for domestic policies to support demand and balance sheet repair where necessary and feasible and credible strategies to reduce public debt others. “The world also needs a renewed multilateral effort to tackle a number of common challenges in an integrated global economy,” it said.
INDIA ACCELERATION
IMF sees an acceleration of activity in India, resulting from the implementation of important structural reforms, after it slowed down in FY17 due to the currency exchange programme. “Medium-term growth prospects are favourable, withgrowth forecast to rise to about 8% over the medium term due to the implementation of key reforms, loosening of supply-side bottlenecks, and appropriate fiscal and monetary policies,” the report said.
IMF had trimmed India’s growth forecast for 2017 by 0.4% points in January, citing temporary negative consumption and payment disruptions from the currency exchange initiative, or demonetisation.IMF has called for policy action in India to reduce labour and product market rigidities, easier setting up of business and exit, bigger manufacturing base, and gainful employment for the abundant pool of labour.
“Policy actions should also consolidate the disinflation under way since the collapse in commodity prices through agriculturalsector reforms and infrastructure enhancements to ease supply bottlenecks; boost financial stability through full recognition of nonperforming loans and raising public sector banks’ capital buffers; and secure the public finances through continued reduction of poorly targeted subsidies and structural tax reforms, including implementation of the recently approved nationwide goods and services tax,” it suggested.
The Business Standard, New Delhi, 23th January 2018
04/03/2025
18/11/2024