Reassessment after four years fails when reopening rests on the same material and no full disclosure lapse is shown.

Reassessment after four years from the end of the relevant assessment year is not valid unless the recorded reasons show that the assessee failed to fully and truly disclose all material facts necessary for assessment. Where the reopening is based on the same profit and loss account, balance sheet, and other material already examined in the original scrutiny assessment, it amounts to a change of opinion on existing facts. In such circumstances, the reassessment notice cannot be sustained and is liable to be quashed.

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Issues: Whether the notice for reassessment issued after expiry of four years from the end of the relevant assessment year was valid when the recorded reasons did not disclose any failure by the assessee to fully and truly disclose all material facts, and the reopening was based on the same material already considered in the original assessment.

Analysis: The reopening was founded on the assessee's existing records, including the profit and loss account and balance sheet, which were already before the Assessing Officer in the original scrutiny assessment. The recorded reasons did not identify any material fact that had not been disclosed by the assessee. In such a situation, the attempt to reopen amounted to a change of opinion on the same primary facts. After four years, reassessment cannot be sustained unless the requirement of failure to disclose fully and truly all material facts necessary for assessment is satisfied.

Conclusion: The reassessment notice was invalid and liable to be quashed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where four years have elapsed from the end of the relevant assessment year, reassessment cannot be initiated merely on a different view of the same material already on record unless the recorded reasons disclose a failure by the assessee to fully and truly disclose all material facts necessary for assessment.

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