TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2020 (2) TMI 1500
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....appellant has raised the following grievance: The learned AO has erred in passing a draft assessment order under section 143(3) read with section 144C(1) of the Act, even when no variation has been proposed therein to the income or loss returned by the appellant. The learned AO has erred in passing the final assessment order under section 143 (3) of the Act, after the due date provided under section 153 of the Act, thus making the final assessment order illegal, bad in law and non est. 3. The short question that we are thus required to adjudicate in this appeal is whether or not the Assessing Officer was justified in passing a draft assessment order on the facts of this case, and, whether, the fact that the assessee chose to issue the d....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....if he proposes to make, on or after the 1st day of October, 2009, any variation in the income or loss returned which is prejudicial to the interest of such assessee [Emphasis, by underlining, supplied by us]. The assessee before us is a non-resident company incorporated, and fiscally domiciled, in Cyprus. Accordingly, in terms of section 144C(15)(b)(ii), the assessee is an eligible assessee but then there is no change in the figure of income returned by the assessee vis-a-vis the income assessed by the Assessing Officer. Clearly, there is no variation in the income returned by the assessee. There is, therefore, no question of a draft assessment order being issued in this case. It is also important to note that the Finance Bill proposes to m....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....1st April, 2020. Thus, if the AO proposes to make any variation after this date, in case of eligible assessee, which is prejudicial to the interest of the assessee, the above provision shall be applicable. 6. Once this amendment is being introduced with effect from 1st April 2020, it is beyond any doubt of controversy that so far as the period prior to 1st April 2020 is concerned, the cases in which no variations in the returned income or loss were proposed, the draft assessment orders were not required to be issued. We, therefore, uphold the plea of the assessee on this point. 7. Coming to the second point, we find that there is no dispute that if no draft assessment order was to be issued in this case, the assessment would have been tim....