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2021 (6) TMI 730 - AT - Income TaxReopening of assessment u/s 147 - addition towards payments made to the sub-contractors on the ground that the assessee could not produce any information nor could produce any sub-contractor - HELD THAT:- It is a settled position of law that the assessment can be reopened under section 147/148 on the basis of ‘reason to believe’ and not ‘reason to suspect’. Unless the reasons to believe about the escapement of income exist, no recourse can be taken to the provisions of section 147. It is well settled by a number of judgments of the Hon’ble Supreme Court that the twin conditions which are required to be fulfilled before an Assessing Officer can exercise his jurisdiction under clause (a) of section 147 of the Act are (a) that the Assessing Officer must have reason to believe that income, profits or gains chargeable to tax had either been underassessed or had escaped assessment and (b) that the Assessing Officer must have reason to believe that such escapement or underassessment was caused by reason of omission or failure on the part of the assessee to disclose fully and truly all material facts necessary for his assessment for that year. In the impugned case, the Assessing Officer has not satisfied with the second limb of section 147. The reopening of assessment can be quashed on two counts, i) no new material was brought on record by the AO in the reopening of assessment to establish that the income of the assessee has escaped assessment as the assessee has already disclosed all the information necessary for completion of original assessment and ii) the reopening of assessment made beyond four years from the AY under consideration. AO reopened the assessment based on change of opinion, which is not acceptable as per the decisions quoted supra. Therefore, we quash the reopening of assessment made by the AO and the grounds raised by the assessee on this issue are allowed.
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