Book profit under partner remuneration allows only statutory adjustments; reopening needs prima facie escapement, while some expense disallowances were deleted.

Reopening under sections 147 and 148 is stated to rest on a prima facie belief of escapement of income, and a mere change of opinion does not bar initiation where material supports that belief. For partners' remuneration under section 40(b), book profit is the net profit shown in the profit and loss account, subject only to statutory adjustments, so interest on fixed deposits kept for business facilities was included in book profit. Ad hoc disallowances were then dealt with separately: travelling expense disallowance and accrued interest addition were deleted, business promotion disallowance was partly sustained, and staff welfare and entertainment disallowance was sustained.

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Issues: (i) Whether reassessment under Section 147 and notice under Section 148 were valid on the basis of prima facie belief of escapement of income; (ii) Whether interest income on fixed deposits kept with the bank for business facilities formed part of book profit for computation of partners' remuneration under Section 40(b); (iii) Whether the disallowance out of travelling expenses, accrued interest, business promotion expenses, and staff welfare and entertainment expenses was justified.

Issue (i): Whether reassessment under Section 147 and notice under Section 148 were valid on the basis of prima facie belief of escapement of income.

Analysis: Reopening of assessment required only a prima facie belief of escapement and not a final conclusion at the stage of initiation. On the material available, the Tribunal accepted that the Assessing Officer could form such belief. The assessee's contention that the case was merely one of change of opinion was rejected.

Conclusion: The reassessment action was upheld and the issue was decided against the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether interest income on fixed deposits kept with the bank for business facilities formed part of book profit for computation of partners' remuneration under Section 40(b).

Analysis: Explanation 3 to Section 40(b) defines book profit as the net profit shown in the profit and loss account, subject only to the adjustments permitted by Chapter IV-D. The definition does not require a separate head-wise classification under Section 14. The Tribunal treated the statutory scheme as focusing on the profit disclosed in the accounts, with only the prescribed adjustments, and relied on the partnership structure and the allied provision concerning partner's income to support that approach.

Conclusion: The interest income was to be included in book profit for Section 40(b) purposes, and the disallowance was deleted in favour of the assessee.

Issue (iii): Whether the disallowance out of travelling expenses, accrued interest, business promotion expenses, and staff welfare and entertainment expenses was justified.

Analysis: The Tribunal found no specific material to sustain the ad hoc disallowance out of travelling expenses and held that the accrued interest pertained to the subsequent assessment year and could not be taxed in the year under appeal. For business promotion expenses, only the expenditure on shoes was accepted as business related, while the balance disallowance was sustained in part. The restriction of the staff welfare and entertainment disallowance was held reasonable.

Conclusion: The disallowance out of travelling expenses was deleted, the accrued interest addition was deleted, the business promotion disallowance was partly sustained, and the staff welfare and entertainment disallowance was sustained.

Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeded on the principal issue relating to partners' remuneration and on some ancillary additions, but failed on the reopening challenge and was otherwise only partly successful overall.

Ratio Decidendi: For computation of partners' remuneration under Section 40(b), book profit means the net profit shown in the profit and loss account after only the statutorily permitted adjustments, and the Assessing Officer cannot reclassify the constituent receipts by selecting different heads of income.

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