Law and Legal blog

An Analysis of the Supreme Court’s judgment in Vodafone – Part I : In our post on the  judgment  of the Bombay High Court, we expressed the hope that the Supreme Court would take a different view. That the Court has now done so has been  welcomed  as much needed respite in bad times. Even more importantly, it is heartening that the Court has taken what it is submitted is the correct view  especially on the facts of Vodafone’s case . But from that qualification it follows that the prevailing assumption that this judgment is a complete victory for tax planning over a more robust approach may not be entirely accurate. As we discuss below, much of the Court’s reasoning, particularly in the judgment of the Chief Justice, is premised on a factual finding that the Vodafone-Hutch deal  did not  lack commercial substance or business purpose, and its analysis of the legal principles suggests that a finding for the assessee is  not  a foregone conclusion in “similar” cases.      It is easiest to ...