Section 170

Section 170 — the law in short

What the courts have decided on section 170, in one screen. Read this first; open an entry when you need the facts, the reasoning and the source.

• PCIT v Mahagun Realtors P Ltd Supreme CourtHelps department
  Is an assessment on an amalgamated company always void?
  No. Corporate death on amalgamation does not by itself invalidate an assessment — it depends on the terms of the amalgamation and the facts, including whether the department was told and how you conducted yourself. Maruti Suzuki was distinguished.
• PCIT v Maruti Suzuki India Ltd Supreme CourtHelps taxpayer
  The notice names a company that has already merged into another. Does taking part in the proceedings fix that?
  No. Once a company amalgamates it ceases to exist, so a notice in its name is a jurisdictional illegality, not a clerical slip. Section 292BB cures defects in service — it cannot supply jurisdiction, and participation is not an estoppel.
• DCIT v Archroma India P Ltd ITATCuts both waysSuperseded by amendment
  I bought a business on slump sale. Can I depreciate the assets at the price I paid?
  No. A slump sale of an undertaking as a going concern is a succession to business otherwise than on death within s.170, so the proviso to s.32(1) applies and depreciation on the assets taken over is computed on the transferor's written down value, not on the buyer's allocation of the purchase price.

Listed strongest first: Supreme Court, then High Court, then Tribunal, then CBDT. Nothing here has yet been read in full by a chartered accountant — open an entry to see where it came from.