Delhi High Court - Orders
All India Federation Of Tax ... vs Union Of India & Anr on 31 October, 2025
Author: V. Kameswar Rao
Bench: V. Kameswar Rao
$~30-31
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
(30)
+ W.P.(C) 14878/2025
ALL INDIA FEDERATION OF TAX PRACTITIONERS
.....Petitioner
versus
UNION OF INDIA & ANR. .....Respondents
(31)
+ W.P.(C) 14951/2025 CM APPL. 61520/2025
CA SUMEET KANWAR & ANR. .....Petitioners
versus
UNION OF INDIA & ANR. .....Respondents
Advocates for the petitioner(s)
Ms Prem Lata Bansal, Sr Advocate with Mr V P Gupta, Mr
Shivang Bansal, Mr Divyanshu Agrawal, Ms Bharti Sharma,
Mr Vaibhav Niti, Mr Anubhav Rastogi, Mr Rajesh Mahana, Mr
Ramanand Roy, Mr Vikram Kakkar, Mr Mithlesh Kumar
Tiwari, Mr Upender, Mr Dheeraj Bhagat, Mr Shiva Narang, Mr
K C Mittal, Mr Dev Raj Sharma, Mr Avadh Kaushik, Mr
Sanjay Sharma, Mr Gaurav Gupta, Mr Ved Jain, Mr Ashok
Sikka, Mr Rakesh Kumar, Ms Poonam Pandey, Ms Saloni
Mahajan, Advocates.
Mr Nitin Kanwar, Mr. Parul Kanwar, Mr Rajiv Kumar, Mr
Dushyant Kumar, Mr Shivam Jain, and Mr Jitendra Kumar,
Advocates.
Advocates for the respondent(s)
Mr Varun Chugh, SPC and Ms Kavya Roy Chaudhary,
Advocate for UOI.
Mr Sanjay Kumar, SSC, Ms Monica Benjamin and Ms Esha,
JSCs for the Revenue.
Mr. Debesh Panda, SSC, Ms. Zehra Khan, Mr. Vikramaditya
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Singh, JSCs, Ms. Nevidta Jha & Ms. Ravicha Sharma,
Advocates for the Revenue.
Mr Anurag Ojha, SSC, Ms. Hemlata Rawat, Mr VK Saksena,
JSCs for the Revenue.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE V. KAMESWAR RAO
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VINOD KUMAR
ORDER
% 31.10.2025
1. Today, Mr Sanjay Kumar, learned SSC for the Revenue has placed before us, a note with regard to "inputs of CBDT on the issue of compliance of transfer pricing audit under Income Tax Act, 1961 within the specified date". The same reads as under:-
"Inputs of CBDT on the issue of compliance of transfer pricing audit under Income Tax Act, 1961 within the specified date
1. Relevant legal provisions 1.1 Section 44A1 (Tax Audit Report) and Section 92E (Transfer Pricing Report) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, are two key compliance provisions governing the audit and reporting requirements for assessee engaged in business or profession in India.
1.2 Section 44AB mandates a tax audit for certain categories of assessees based on turnover, gross receipts, or profits. The audit report under Section 44AB is required to be furnished in electronic form mandatorily by a person carrying on a business, when the total sales, turnover, or gross receipts during the previous financial year exceed ₹1 crore (If the aggregate of cash receipts and cash payments does not exceed five percent of the total receipts and total payments respectively, the threshold for mandatory tax audit is increased from ₹1 crore to ₹10 crore). For professionals such as doctors, lawyers, chartered accountants, architects, or engineers, the tax audit under Section 44AB becomes applicable when gross receipts exceed 50 lakh in This is a digitally signed order.
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1.3 As per CBDT's Circular No.15/2025 dated 29.10.2025, the specified date for furnishing the tax audit report under Section 44AB in Form No.3CA or 3CB and Form No.3CD is 10 November, 2025 and the due date for filing the corresponding Income Tax Return (ITR) is 10th December, 2025 for Assessment Year 2025-26 (Financial Year 2024-25) 1.4 Section 92E of the Income Tax Act governs the compliance requirements for taxpayers who enter into international transactions or specified domestic transactions with associated enterprises. Any person who has undertaken an international transaction (a defined under Section 92B), or specified domestic transaction (as defined under Section 92BA), during the relevant previous year must obtain a report in the prescribed Form No 3CEB and furnish it before the specified date. For Assessment Year 2025-26 (Financial Yea 2024-25), the specified date for furnishing report u/s 92E in Form No.3CEB is 31st October,2025 and the due date for filing the corresponding Income Tax Return (ITR) is 30th November, 2025.
1.5 Even if a single international or specified domestic transaction (as per applicable limit) is entered into, the obligation to furnish Form No.3CEB arises. The tax audit forms u 44AB (Form No.3CA or 3CB and Form No.3CD) and report u/s 92E (Form No. 3CEB) a separate forms to be filed and there is no link between these forms. In conclusion, compliance with Sections 44AB and 92E are distinct in scope and requires separate compliance.
2. Analysis of Scenario of audit reports applicability:
2.1 Scenario of only transfer pricing audit u/s 92E but not audit report u/s 44AB:
(i) A scenario where only a transfer pricing audit under Section 92E is applicable no tax audit under Section 44AB arises when a assessee enters into international specified domestic transactions with associated enterprises but does not cross the turnover or gross receipts limits prescribed under Section 44AB This is a digitally signed order.
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(i) For example, consider an Indian company or partnership firm with total turnover of ₹80 lakh from business during Financial Year 2024-25. Since its turnover does not exceed ₹1 crore (or ₹10 crore where cash transactions are ≤5%), Section 44AB is not applicable. However, if this entity has undertaken international transactions, for example, payment of royalty or purchase of goods from its foreign parent company, it becomes liable for filing Form 3CEB under Section 92E. In such cases, since only Section 92E compliance is required, the compliance requirements for AY 2025-26 are as under:
Furnish Form No.3CEB electronically on or before 31st October, 2025 File the corresponding Income Tax Return (ITR) on or before 30 November, 2025 (section 92E applies).
2.2 Scenario of both tax audit report u/s 44AB and report u/s 92E and its compliance requirements:
(1) A scenario where both a Tax Audit under Section 44AB and a Transfer Pricing Audit under Section 92E apply arises when assessees's turnover or gross receipts exceed the prescribed audit limits u/s 44AB and the assessee also enters into international or specified domestic transactions with associated enterprises during the financial year.
(ii) For instance, consider an Indian company engaged in manufacturing with total turnover of ₹15 crore during Financial Year 2024-25. Since its turnover exceeds ₹10 crore (even if digital/non-cash transactions are above 95%), a tax audit under Section 44AB becomes applicable. At the same time, if this company pays royalties to its foreign parent entity in a previous year, it enters into international transactions, triggering a transfer pricing audit under Section 92E.
(iii) Thus, both provisions of audit report u/s 44AB and report u/s 92E apply simultaneously. In such dual-compliance cases, requirement of compliance for Assessment Year 2025-26 as under:
Furnish Form No. 3CEB by 31st October 2025. Furnish Form No.3CA/3CB-3CD by 10th November, 2025.
File the ITR by 10th December, 2025.
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(iv) In view of the above, the assessees having requirement to file both tax audit report u/s44AB and report u/s 92E of the Act are benefitting from the extension provided vide CBDT's Circular No.15/2025 dated 29.10.2025 for filing ITR for AY 2025-26.
3. Comparison of forms:
The Forms for tax audit report u/s 44AB (Form No.3CA/JCB- 3CD) and a report u/s 92E (Form No. 3CEB) [copy enclosed] are distinct and independent to each other. Further, the Form No.3CEB (Transfer pricing audit report) is a simple report compared to the Form No.3CA/3CB-3CD (tax audit report u/s 44AB).
4. No delay in release of utility for Form No.3CEB (Transfer pricing audit report u/s 92E):
The initial utility for Form No.3CA/3CB-3CD (Tax audit report u/s 44AB) for AY 2025-26 was released online on 17 July,2025 and last changes were made in the said utility on 14 August, 2025. In contrast, the current version of utility for Form No.3CEB (v1.3) (Transfer pricing audit report u/s 92E) for AY 2025-26 was released online by the Department on 01 April, 2025 for the compliance of taxpayers, with minor changes in this form compared to the last year. Therefore, it is reiterated that there is no delay in release of utility for Form No.3CEB (Transfer pricing audit report u/s 92E) for AY 2025-26 by the Department and assessees are aware that the utility was available since April of this year.
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2. The above stand is taken on record. Though submissions have been made by Ms P L Bansal, learned Senior Counsel, Mr Ved Jain, Mr Gaurav Gupta, Mr Divyanshu Aggarwal, Mr Nitin Kanwar, appropriate shall be that a counter affidavit(s) be filed by the Revenue in these petitions, within a period of two weeks from today. The counter affidavit shall also deal with the contentions of the learned counsel in respect of the timely issuance of relevant forms, and the steps taken by the respondents to further smoothen This is a digitally signed order.
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3. Rejoinder thereto, be filed within one week thereafter.
4. Renotify on 25.11.2025.
V. KAMESWAR RAO, J VINOD KUMAR, J OCTOBER 31, 2025 M This is a digitally signed order.
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