TMI Blog2012 (2) TMI 256X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... filing an application under section 245Q(1) of the Income-tax Act, the application before the Authority for Advance Rulings will be barred by the clause (i) of the proviso to section 245R(2) of the Act and the application will have to be rejected. On an application made by the applicant therein before this Authority to review or reconsider the correctness of that view, after considering the relevant aspects pointed out, this Authority again reiterated its view. The correctness of this view so taken is again sought to be canvassed in this Application and the other Applications heard along with it containing similar fact situation. 2. The assessments of the applicant before us for the Assessment Years 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 have been comple ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tes to a transaction or issue which is designed prima-facie for the avoidance of income-tax. When any one of those conditions is satisfied, obviously, this Authority has to decline jurisdiction and has to reject the application. Of course, as an authority constituted under a statute, this Authority may have a jurisdiction to decline a ruling even when one of these clauses in the proviso is not attracted or one of them is not strictly satisfied.[See the Ruling in Microsoft (AAR/781/2008)] 4. It is contended that the object of an Advance Ruling being to cut short the delay in dispute resolution as regards applicants who are eligible to apply, the bar enacted by the proviso to section 245R(2) of the Act must be strictly construed. It is also ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... stances. One of the situations or circumstances, is when the question raised before it, has arisen before the Income-tax Authority. The question referred to in the proviso to section 245R(2) of the Act, is the question before the Authority for Advance Rulings. When a return is filed, so many aspects arise out of that return. The question of computation of total income, of computation of the exemptions and exclusions, acceptance or non-acceptance of an item of expenditure and ultimately the determination of chargeable income and the determination of the tax due, are all questions that arise. Therefore filing of a return ushers in all these questions. By filing a return, an assessee invites an adjudication on all the questions arising out of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... an applicant, eligible in that behalf, to move this Authority at the earliest opportunity and not to wait until after it invokes the jurisdiction or is obliged to invoke the jurisdiction of the Assessing Officer, by filing a return of income. The obligation to file a return can well be fulfilled after moving this Authority and the Assessing Officer will have to await a Ruling by this Authority and take shelter under Section 153 of the Act to complete the assessment. We may note that it could not be denied that the Ruling this Authority will give, will also impact the return already pending when the application before this Authority was moved. It will then be impossible to say that the aspect does not arise out of the return filed. The quest ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... decide the question for him and that makes the question pending before the income-tax authority. Then clearly, the bar under clause (i) of the proviso to section 245R(2) of the Act would be attracted. 10. Just like our considering the date of hearing of the application under section 245R of the Act would make for uncertainty, the fixing of the date of notice under section 143(2) / 142(1) of the Act by the income-tax authority as the starting point, would result in vagaries and to the use of different yardsticks to different applicants, it would depend on the diligence or non-diligence of the Assessing Officer, whether he had issued the notice before or after the application before this Authority has been filed and the nature of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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