Home Case Index All Cases Income Tax Income Tax + HC Income Tax - 2023 (2) TMI HC This
Forgot password New User/ Regiser ⇒ Register to get Live Demo
2023 (2) TMI 974 - BOMBAY HIGH COURTReopening of assessment u/s 147 - Reasons to believe - Change of opinion - reasons can neither be added nor substituted by pleadings - assessment reopened beyond the period of four years - HELD THAT:- Since this is a case where an order u/s143(3) of the Act had been passed for the relevant assessment year, AO in addition to satisfying the jurisdictional conditions of ‘reason to believe’ that income chargeable to tax had escaped assessment, had to show that there was failure on the part of the petitioner to disclose fully and truly all material facts necessary for assessment during the original assessment proceedings. A reference to the reasons recorded would clearly show that not a whisper has been made by the AO that there was any such failure on the part of the assessee. The consequence is clear that the AO had not satisfied himself on this important jurisdictional aspect and therefore must be deemed to have arbitrarily proceeded to initiate the reassessment proceedings by issuing the notice impugned, which makes it unsustainable. Material which was referred to in the reasons recorded in the shape of transactions, securities, etc. do not reflect that the said material was not available with the AO during the scrutiny assessment proceedings. AO appears to have relied solely upon the said information obtained from the Investigation Wing of the department without, in the least, verifying as to whether the said issue had been gone into or disclosed by the assessee during the scrutiny assessment proceedings. The petitioner, on the other hand, has placed on record details of notices and the replies submitted thereto, as referred to in the preceding paragraphs which would show that the information with regard to all transactions had been sought for and supplied by the petitioner. Since an order under section 143(3) had been passed after eliciting various information from the petitioner, which was responded to by the petitioner, it must be presumed that the Assessing Officer, while passing the order under section 143(3) of the Act, had considered all issues pertaining to the queries raised as also issues in regard to which the information was sought and therefore, if the matter is deemed to have been considered, any subsequent reassessment on the same issue would be nothing but a ‘change of opinion’. Decided in favour of assessee.
|