Voluntary disclosure and double taxation relief: assessee's share of firm's undisclosed income could be excluded from reassessment.

Voluntary disclosure under section 14(1) was treated as covering all concealed income of the relevant previous years, and the assessee could include his proportionate share of a firm's undisclosed income. The explanatory notes in Form B were accepted as permissible clarifications showing that the amount disclosed was in addition to partnership income already returned or assessed, and the reference to "immunity" was given its ordinary meaning rather than being limited to penalty and prosecution. On the facts, objections based on form or minor discrepancies were rejected, but the tribunal held that the same income had been taxed twice and the proportionate share attributable to the firm's undisclosed income had to be excluded from reassessment.

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Issues: Whether the assessee's disclosure under the Voluntary Disclosure Scheme could include his proportionate share of the firm's undisclosed income, and whether that share could again be added in reassessment on the ground that the same amount had already been disclosed and taxed in the firm's hands.

Analysis: The disclosure under section 14(1) was held to be a disclosure of all concealed income relating to the relevant previous years, and there was no bar against including the assessee's share in the firm's undisclosed income. The explanatory notes in Form B were treated as permissible remarks clarifying that the amount disclosed by the assessee was in addition to the partnership income already returned or assessed. The word "immunity" in the notes was given its ordinary meaning and was not confined only to penalty and prosecution. The objection that the disclosure did not follow the form or that there were factual discrepancies was rejected on the facts. The tribunal found that the same income had effectively been brought to tax twice, once through the firm and again in the assessee's reassessment, and that the proportionate share attributable to the firm's undisclosed income had to be excluded.

Conclusion: The assessee was entitled to exclusion of the proportionate share of the firm's undisclosed income, and the addition made on that account was not sustainable.

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