2017 (7) TMI 361
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....t. Lawrance High School. The return of income for the year under consideration was filed by him on 11.01.2007 declaring total income of Rs. 99,428/-. The said return was initially processed by the Assessing Officer under section 143(1). Subsequently he entertained a belief about the escapement of the income of the assessee from the assessment and accordingly the assessment was reopened by him after recording the reasons. There was, however, no response to the notice issued by the Assessing Officer in this regard under section 148 as well as the notices issued under section 143(2) and 142(1) during the course of assessment proceedings on the part of the assessee. The Assessing Officer, therefore, proceeded to complete the assessment to the b....
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....s well as the material available on record, the ld. CIT(Appeals) found merit in the preliminary issue raised by the assessee challenging the validity of the assessment made by the Assessing Officer under section 147/144 and proceeded to annul the said assessment for the following reasons given in paragraph no. 4.3 of his impugned order:- "4.3. I have considered the submission of the AR of the appellant in the backdrop of the action of the AO in reopening the case. I find that the AO had issued notice 148 dated 22.03.2011 pertaining to AY 2006-07 without being accompanied with the reasonable belief that income had escaped assessment. On being requested to supply the reasonable belief for reopening the assessment by the appellant vide lette....
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....f A.G. Holdings (Pvt.) Limited -vs.- ITO [21 taxman.com 34 (Delhi)] to contend that there is no requirement either in section 147 or section 148 or section 149 that reasons recorded should also accompany notice issued under section 148. He contended that the only requirement is that if after issuance of notice under section 148, the assessee asks for the reasons, the same should be provided by Assessing Officer. He submitted that in the present case, notice under section 148 was issued by the Assessing Officer on 22.03.2011 and when the assessee asked for the reasons on 29.06.2011, the same were duly communicated by the Assessing Officer on 29.08.2011. As regards the alleged variation in the reasons recorded by the Assessing Officer and com....
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....(Appeals) is not justified to annul the assessment made by the Assessing Officer under section 147/144 by treating the reopening to be invalid. 5. The ld. counsel for the assessee, on the other hand, strongly supported the impugned order passed by the ld. CIT(Appeals) holding the reopening of assessment by the Assessing Officer to be invalid and annulling the assessment made in pursuance thereof. He relied on the decision of the Hon'ble Delhi High Court in the case of Haryana Acrylic Manufacturing Co. -vs.- CIT [308 ITR 38 (Delhi)] to contend that if the reasons recorded by the Assessing Officer are different from the reasons communicated to the assessee, the reopening of assessment is bad in law. He also relied on the decision of Delhi Be....
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....olved in the case of Haryana Acrylic Manufacturing Co. (supra) were materially different. In the said case, the reasons, which had been communicated for initiation of proceedings under section 147 were entirely different from the reasons which had been supplied to the assessee, inasmuch as, while in the reasons supplied to the assessee, there was no mention of the allegation that there was a failure on the part of the assessee to disclose fully and truly all material facts, in the reasons recorded by the Assessing Officer, there was a specific allegation that there was a failure on the part of the assessee to disclose fully and truly all material facts relating to the relevant accommodation entries. Moreover, in the said case, there was ino....
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....d should also accompany the notice issued under section 148. It has been held that the requirement in section 149(1) is only that the notice under section 148 shall be issued after recording the reasons and the Assessing Officer is duty bound to supply the reasons recorded for reopening the assessment to the assessee only after the assessee has filed his return in response to notice issued under section 148 and on making a request to the Assessing Officer to that effect as held by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of G.K. Driveshafts Pvt. Ltd. (supra). 9. It is also noted from the letter dated 29.08.2011 issued by the Assessing Officer to the assessee communicating the reasons for reopening that it was specifically brought by him to th....
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