Audit report in Form WW must be considered before reassessment; assessment and consequential attachment were set aside

An assessment under the Tamil Nadu VAT Act was required to be reconsidered where the audit report in Form WW had been filed along with payment of the belated filing penalty. Applying the Court's earlier decisions on the same principle, the assessment could not stand without considering that report and granting a fresh personal hearing. The impugned assessment order was therefore set aside, the authority was directed to redo the assessment afresh after taking Form WW into account, and the consequential attachment order also fell with the assessment.

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Issues: Whether the impugned assessment order and consequential attachment were liable to be set aside for fresh assessment after considering the audit report in Form WW under Section 63-A of the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Act, 2006.

Analysis: The matter was covered by earlier decisions of the Court on the same principle. The audit report in Form WW had already been filed along with payment of the penalty for belated submission. In that backdrop, the assessment required reconsideration on the basis of the audit report, with a fresh opportunity for personal hearing, and the consequential attachment could not survive once the assessment was set aside.

Conclusion: The impugned assessment order was set aside and the respondent was directed to redo the assessment afresh after taking into account the audit report in Form WW and after affording an opportunity of personal hearing; the consequential attachment order also stood set aside.

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