TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
Amendment of section 144B
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.... section 143 or under subsection (1) of section 142 and the assessee may file his response to such notice within the date specified therein, to the National Faceless Assessment Centre which shall forward the same to the assessment unit; (iv) where a case is assigned to the assessment unit, under clause (i), it may make a request through the National Faceless Assessment Centre for- (a) obtaining such further information, documents or evidence from the assessee or any other person, as it may specify; (b) conducting of enquiry or verification by verification unit; (c) seeking technical assistance in respect of determination of arm's length price, valuation of property, withdrawal of registration, approval, exemption or any other technical matter by referring to the technical unit; (v) where a request under sub-clause (a) of clause (iv) has been initiated by the assessment unit, the National Faceless Assessment Centre shall serve appropriate notice or requisition on the assessee or any other person for obtaining the information, documents or evidence requisitioned by the assessment unit and the assessee or any other person, as the case may b....
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.... prepare, in writing,-- (a) an income or loss determination proposal, where no variation prejudicial to assessee is proposed and send a copy of such income or loss determination proposal to the National Faceless Assessment Centre; or (b) in any other case, a show cause notice stating the variations prejudicial to the interest of assessee proposed to be made to the income of the assessee and calling upon him to submit as to why the proposed variation should not be made and serve such show cause notice, on the assessee, through the National Faceless Assessment Centre; (xiii) the assessee shall file his reply to the show cause notice served under sub-clause (b) of clause (xii) on a date and time as specified therein or such time as may be extended on the basis of an application made in this regard, to the National Faceless Assessment Centre, which shall forward the reply to the assessment unit; (xiv) where the assessee fails to file response to the notice served under sub-clause (b) of clause (xii) within the time specified therein or within the extended time, if any, the National Faceless Assessment Centre shall intimate such failure to the assessm....
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....ith such draft order, which shall thereafter pass the final assessment order and initiate penalty proceedings, if any, and send it to the National Faceless Assessment Centre; (xxiii) upon receiving the final assessment order as per clause (xxii), the National Faceless Assessment Centre shall serve a copy of such order and notice for initiating penalty proceedings, if any, on the assessee, along with the demand notice, specifying the sum payable by, or refund of any amount due to, the assessee on the basis of such assessment; (xxiv) where a draft order is served on the assessee as referred to in clause (xxi), such assessee shall,-- (a) file his acceptance of the variations proposed in such draft order to the National Faceless Assessment Centre; or (b) file his objections, if any, to such variations, with-- (I) the Dispute Resolution Panel, and (II) the National Faceless Assessment Centre, within the period specified in the sub-section (2) of section 144C; (xxv) the National Faceless Assessment Centre shall,- (a) upon receipt of acceptance from the eligible assessee; or (b) if no objection....
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....ty of the assessee, and the interests of the revenue, is of the opinion that it is necessary to do so, it may, upon recording its reasons in writing, refer the case to the National Faceless Assessment Centre stating that the provisions of sub-section (2A) of section 142 may be invoked and such case shall be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of subsection (7). (2) The faceless assessment under sub-section (1) shall be made in respect of such territorial area, or persons or class of persons, or incomes or class of incomes, or cases or class of cases, as may be specified by the Board. (3) The Board may, for the purposes of faceless assessment, set up the following Centre and units and specify their functions and jurisdiction, namely:- (i) a National Faceless Assessment Centre to facilitate the conduct of faceless assessment proceedings in a centralised manner; (ii) such assessment units, as it may deem necessary to conduct the faceless assessment, to perform the function of making assessment, which includes identification of points or issues material for the determination of any liability (including refund) under this Act, seeking information or clar....
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.... the purposes of review and the term "review unit", wherever used in this section, shall refer to an Assessing Officer having powers so assigned by the Board; (4) The assessment unit, verification unit, technical unit and the review unit shall have the following authorities, namely:- (i) Additional Commissioner or Additional Director or Joint Commissioner or Joint Director, as the case may be; (ii) Deputy Commissioner or Deputy Director or Assistant Commissioner or Assistant Director, or Income-tax Officer, as the case may be; (iii) such other income-tax authority, ministerial staff, executive or consultant, as may be considered necessary by the Board. (5) All communications,-- (i) among the assessment unit, review unit, verification unit or technical unit or with the assessee or any other person with respect to the information or documents or evidence or any other details, as may be necessary for the purposes of making a faceless assessment shall be through the National Faceless Assessment Centre; (ii) between the National Faceless Assessment Centre and the assessee, or his authorised representative, or any other person shal....
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....up under this section; (vii) in a case where a variation is proposed in the income or loss determination proposal or the draft order, and an opportunity is provided to the assessee by serving a notice calling upon him to show cause as to why the assessment should not be completed as per such income or loss determination proposal, the assessee or his authorised representative, as the case may be, may request for personal hearing so as to make his oral submissions or present his case before the income-tax authority of the relevant unit; (viii) where the request for personal hearing has been received, the income-tax authority of relevant unit shall allow such hearing, through National Faceless Assessment Centre, which shall be conducted exclusively through video conferencing or video telephony, including use of any telecommunication application software which supports video conferencing or video telephony, to the extent technologically feasible, in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Board; (ix) subject to the proviso to sub-section (5), any examination or recording of the statement of the assessee or any other person (other than the statement rec....
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....142; (c) where a reference has not been forwarded to the Principal Chief Commissioner or Chief Commissioner or Principal Commissioner or Commissioner, having jurisdiction over the case, in a case referred to in subclause (i) of clause (a), the assessment unit shall proceed to complete the assessment in accordance with the procedure laid down in this section. (8) Notwithstanding anything contained in subsection (1) or sub-section (2), the Principal Chief Commissioner or the Principal Director General, as the case may be, in charge of National Faceless Assessment Centre may, at any stage of the assessment, if considered necessary, transfer the case to the Assessing Officer having jurisdiction over such case, with the prior approval of the Board."; (b) sub-section (9) shall be omitted and shall be deemed to have been omitted with effect from the 1st day of April, 2021; (c) sub-section (10) shall be omitted; (d) in the Explanation,-- (i) after clause (l), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:- '(la) "electronic verification code" means a code generated for the purpose of electronic verification as per the data structure and standards spe....
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....system. The AU may also similarly make a request for reference to the technical unit and the request shall be assigned by the NaFAC to a TU through an automated allocation system. The assessee or any other person, as the case may be, shall file his response in compliance to the said notice served by NaFAC, at the request of AU, to the NaFAC which shall forward the reply to the AU. If the assessee fails to comply with the said notice served by NaFAC, at the request of AU, or the earlier notice under sub-section (2) of section 143 or under sub-section (1) of section 142, the NaFAC shall intimate the same to the AU. The AU shall serve upon the assessee, through NaFAC, a show cause notice under section 144 giving him the opportunity to explain as to why the assessment in his case should not be completed to the best of its judgement. The NaFAC shall send any report received from the VU or TU to the AU. The assessee shall file his response to the show-cause notice under section 144 of the Act, within the time specified in such notice, to the NaFAC which shall forward the same to the AU. If the assessee fails to respond, the NaFAC shall intimate the same to the AU. The AU shall, after ....
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...., to the assessee; An eligible assessee, as referred to in section 144C, has to file his acceptance of the variations proposed in such draft order or file objections, if any, to such variations with the Dispute Resolution Panel, under section 144C and the NaFAC, within the period specified in sub-section (2) of the said section. In case the variations proposed in the draft order are accepted by the assessee or not objected to within the time given in sub-section (2) of section 144C, the NaFAC shall intimate the AU of the same, which shall pass the assessment order, on the basis of the draft order, within the time allowed under sub-section (4) of section 144C and initiate penalty proceedings, if any, and send the order to the NaFAC. Where the eligible assessee files objections with the Dispute Resolution Panel against the variations proposed in the draft order in his case, the NaFAC shall send such intimation along with a copy of such objections to the AU. Upon receipt of the directions issued by the Dispute Resolution Panel in the case of an eligible assessee, the NaFAC shall forward such directions to the AU. The AU shall complete the assessment within the time allowed in....
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....wers so assigned by the Board;. (iv) technical units, as it may deem necessary to facilitate the conduct of faceless assessment, to perform the function of providing technical assistance which includes any assistance or advice on legal, accounting, forensic, information technology, valuation, transfer pricing, data analytics, management or any other technical matter under the Income-tax Act or an agreement entered into under section 90 or section 90A which may be required in a particular case or a class of cases, under this section and the term "technical unit", wherever used in this section, shall mean an assessing officer having powers so assigned by the Board. (v) review units, as it may deem necessary to facilitate the conduct of faceless assessment, to perform the function of review of the income determination proposal assigned to it, which includes checking whether the relevant and material evidence has been brought on record, relevant points of fact and law have been duly incorporated, the issues requiring addition or disallowance have been incorporated and such other functions as may be required for the purposes of review and the term "review unit", wherev....
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....r recording of the statement of the assessee or any other person (other than the statement recorded in the course of survey under section 133A) shall be conduced by an income-tax authority in the relevant unit, exclusively through video conferencing or video telephony, to the extent technologically feasible, in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Board. The Principal Chief Commissioner or the Principal Director General, as the case may be, in charge of the NaFAC shall, with the prior approval of the Board, lay down the standards, procedures and processes in the specified manner for effective functioning of the NaFAC and the units set up, in an automated and mechanized environment. The proposed section also seeks to provide that if at any stage of the proceedings before it, the AU having regard to the nature and complexity of the accounts, volume of the accounts, doubts about the correctness of accounts, multiplicity of transactions in the accounts or specialised nature of business activity of the assessee, and the interests of the revenue, is of the opinion that it is necessary to do so, it may, upon recording its reasons in writing, refer the case to the NaFAC sta....