Reopening beyond four years requires full disclosure failure; disclosure in return notes made the notice invalid.

Reopening an assessment beyond four years is invalid unless the Revenue can show that the assessee failed to disclose fully and truly all material facts necessary for assessment. Here, the return disclosed the provision written back and the accompanying notes explained its nature, which was sufficient to alert the Assessing Officer and permit further enquiry if needed. The absence of enquiry in the original assessment, by itself, did not satisfy the statutory condition for reopening after four years. The High Court therefore quashed the reopening notice in favour of the assessee, noting that a similar notice in the assessee's own case had already been set aside on comparable facts.

---

---

Issues: Whether the notice issued for reopening an assessment beyond four years was valid when the assessee had disclosed the relevant provision written back in the return and accompanying notes.

Analysis: Reopening an assessment completed under scrutiny after the expiry of four years requires a failure on the part of the assessee to disclose fully and truly all material facts necessary for assessment. The return for the relevant assessment year showed the provision written back, and the notes to the return explained its nature. That disclosure was sufficient to alert the Assessing Officer and enabled further scrutiny if required. The absence of enquiry in the original assessment could not, by itself, justify reopening beyond four years, since the statutory condition of failure to disclose was not established on the material placed on record. The Court also noted that an earlier notice in the assessee's own case had been quashed on similar facts.

Conclusion: The reopening notice was invalid and was quashed in favour of the assessee.

---