General tax notice binds non-residents; failure to file a return triggers reassessment under section 34(1)(a).

A general notice under section 22(1) bound every person with taxable income, including a non-resident, and created an obligation to file a return. Failure to comply with that notice constituted an omission or failure attracting reassessment under section 34(1)(a), not section 34(1)(b). Section 34(1)(b) was confined to cases where there had been no such omission or failure to make a return. The non-resident assessee's lack of actual knowledge of the general notice did not justify reading any unstated limitation into the statute, and the reassessment proceedings were held to be within limitation under section 34(1)(a).

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Issues: Whether a non-resident assessee who failed to file a return after a general notice under section 22(1) could be proceeded against under section 34(1)(a) within eight years, or whether the case fell only under section 34(1)(b).

Analysis: The expression used in section 22(1) applied to every person whose total income exceeded the taxable limit and did not exclude non-residents. A general notice under section 22(1), read with the prescribed rules, created an obligation to file a return. If the assessee did not comply, that omission attracted section 34(1)(a). Section 34(1)(b) was confined to cases where there had been no such omission or failure to make a return. The absence of knowledge of the general notice by a non-resident did not justify reading a limitation into the provision which the statute did not express.

Conclusion: The notices and reassessment proceedings were within limitation under section 34(1)(a), and the assessee's contention failed.

Ratio Decidendi: A general notice under section 22(1) binds every person with taxable income, including a non-resident, and failure to file a return pursuant to that notice constitutes omission or failure attracting reassessment under section 34(1)(a).

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