Change of opinion bars reassessment where the original assessment already considered the relevant material and refund computation.

Reassessment under Section 29(7) of the U.P. VAT Act was impermissible where the original assessment had already considered the relevant material and the reopening was based on a different view of the same facts. The refund issue had been examined earlier on material already before the assessing authority, so a later attempt to revisit it on a new interpretation amounted to a change of opinion. The impugned notice and approval were therefore not sustainable.

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Issues: Whether reassessment proceedings under Section 29(7) of the U.P. Value Added Tax Act, 2008 could be sustained when the original assessment had already considered the relevant material and the proposed action was based on a different view of the same facts.

Analysis: The notice for reassessment rested on the premise that the refund granted in the original assessment had been computed incorrectly by not deducting the tax deposited and input tax credit in terms of Rule 70(9) of the U.P. Value Added Tax Rules, 2008. The material on which this premise was founded was already before the assessing authority at the time of the original assessment. Once a conscious decision had been taken on that material, a subsequent attempt to reopen the assessment on a different interpretation amounted to a change of opinion. Reassessment is not permissible merely because the authority later considers the earlier view to be erroneous.

Conclusion: Reassessment under Section 29(7) was not permissible, and the impugned notice and approval could not be sustained.

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