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2018 (7) TMI 2278 - HC - Income TaxReopening of assessment u/s 147 - fresh or tangible material to initiate reopening - HELD THAT:- As in the absence of any fresh or tangible material outside of the existing record, the respondents could not have issued the re-assessment notice impugned in the present case. They cite Commissioner of Income Tax v. Kelvinator of India Ltd. [2010 (1) TMI 11 - SUPREME COURT] in support of the proposition that re-assessments to the extent that they are a revision of opinion, are impermissible. The respondent submits that the re-assessment was necessitated, on account of the careful scrutiny of the profit and loss statement for the concerned year. As submitted that the AO had cogent reasons to believe that the income chargeable to tax had escaped assessment having regard to the fact that apparently no tax deductions were made in respect of the same payouts and that the original order did not express any opinion on the subject. The decision in Kelvinator (supra) is conclusive. In order that an AO can belatedly reopen a concluded assessment –a scrutiny assessment u/s 143(3), as is the present case, there ought to exist “tangible material outside of the existing record” that may be in the form of information received directly or incidentally in the course of other collateral proceedings such as searches, seizure or even subsequent to other assessment year’s materials. None of these conditions, which trigger a valid re-assessment, exist on the record. The Revenue is clearly seeking to revisit the concluded issues in the pretext of stating that they were not either appreciated fully or not at all. Kelvinator (supra) is conclusive even on that aspect. Thus the impugned re-assessment notice cannot be sustained.
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