Voluntary disclosure return is only an annexure, not a Wealth-tax return, so assessment jurisdiction does not arise automatically.

A return of net wealth filed with a declaration under section 15 of the Voluntary Disclosure of Income and Wealth Act, 1976, read with rule 5(2) of the 1975 Rules, was treated only as an annexure to the disclosure and not as a return independently filed under the Wealth-tax Act, 1957. The disclosure scheme was held to be ancillary to the Wealth-tax Act and usable as information for assessment or reassessment, but not a substitute for that Act's own assessment machinery. Accordingly, the attached return did not itself confer jurisdiction to complete a valid wealth-tax assessment without recourse to the statutory provisions of the Wealth-tax Act.

---

---

Issues: Whether the returns of net wealth filed along with declarations under section 15 of the Voluntary Disclosure of Income and Wealth Act, 1976, in terms of rule 5(2) of the Voluntary Disclosure of Income and Wealth Rules, 1975, could be treated as returns filed under the Wealth-tax Act, 1957, so as to sustain valid assessments without resort to section 17 of that Act.

Analysis: Section 15 of the 1976 Act contemplated forwarding of the declaration to the Wealth-tax Officer for use of the information contained therein in assessment or reassessment proceedings under the Wealth-tax Act. Rule 5(2) required a return of net wealth to accompany a declaration relating to net wealth, but the accompanying return was filed as part of the disclosure mechanism and not as a return independently filed under the Wealth-tax Act. The scheme of the 1976 Act was held to be ancillary to the Wealth-tax Act and not a substitute for its assessment machinery. The majority reasoned that unless proceedings were brought into existence under the Wealth-tax Act, the Wealth-tax Officer could not complete a valid assessment merely on the basis of the return attached to the declaration. The statutory language was construed as requiring the declaration to be used as information, while the return attached under rule 5(2) did not by itself confer assessment jurisdiction under the Wealth-tax Act.

Conclusion: The returns accompanying the declarations under section 15 of the 1976 Act could not be treated as returns filed under the Wealth-tax Act for the purpose of making valid assessments; the assessments made only on that basis were invalid and the appeals succeeded.

Ratio Decidendi: A return attached to a voluntary disclosure declaration under rule 5(2) of the 1975 Rules is only an annexure to the declaration and does not, by itself, constitute a return filed under the Wealth-tax Act so as to confer jurisdiction to make a valid assessment under that Act without resort to its own assessment provisions.

---