TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2023 (7) TMI 284
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....mber 2022 (Exhibit - 'Q') issued under section 156 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 by the Respondent No. 2 and penalty notice dated 17th December 2022 (Exhibit - 'R'& 'S') issued under section 270 A and 271AAC(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 by the Respondent No. 2; B) That this Hon'ble Court may be pleased to issue an appropriate Writ, Order or Direction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, ordering and directing Respondent No. 2 to withdraw the impugned assessment order dated: 17 December 2022 (Exhibit 'P') passed under section 143 (3) r.w.s. of the Income-tax Act, 1961 by the Respondent No. 2 as well as the notice of demand dated: 17th December 2022 (Exhibit - 'Q') issued under section 156 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 by the Respondent No. 2 and penalty notices dated 17 December 2022 (Exhibit 'R' & 'S') issued under section 270 A and 271AAC(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 by the Respondent No. 2; C) That this Hon'ble Court be pleased to issue a Writ, Order or Direction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India ordering and directing Respondents not to take any action in furtherance to the ....
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....t or recomputation under sub- section (3) of section 143 or under section 144 or under section 147, as the case may be, with respect to the cases referred to in sub-section (2), shall be made in a faceless manner as per the following procedure, namely:- (i) the National Faceless Assessment Centre shall assign the case selected for the purposes of faceless assessment under this section to a specific assessment unit through an automated allocation system; (ii) the National Faceless Assessment Centre shall intimate the assessee that assessment in his case shall be completed in accordance with the procedure laid down under this section; (iii) a notice shall be served on the assessee, through the National Faceless Assessment Centre, under sub-section (2) of section 143 or under sub-section (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) obta....
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....ied in such notice as to why the assessment in his case should not be completed to the best of its judgment; (x) the assessee shall within the time specified in the notice referred to in clause fix) or such time as may be extended on the basis of an application in this regard, file his response to the National Faceless Assessment Centre which shall forward the same to the assessment unit; (xi) where the assessee fails to file response to the notice served under clause fix) within the time specified therein or within the extended time, if any, the National Faceless Assessment Centre shall intimate such failure to the assessment unit; (xii) the assessment unit shall, after taking into account all the relevant material available on the record, 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 ....
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....herein and after recording reasons in case of rejection of such modifications, prepare a draft order; (xx) the assessment unit shall send such draft order prepared under sub-clause (a) of clause (xvi) or under clause (xix) to the National Faceless Assessment Centre; (xxi) in case of an eligible assessee, where there is a proposal to make any variation which is prejudicial to the interest of such assessee, as mentioned in sub-section (1) under section 144C, the National Faceless Assessment Centre shall serve the draft order referred to in clause (xx) on the assessee; (xxii) in any case other than that referred to in clause (xxi), the National Faceless Assessment Centre shall convey to the assessment unit to pass the final assessment order in accordance with 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 (xx), 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 t....
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....edings, if any, on the assessee, along with the demand notice, specifying the sum payable by, or the amount of refund due to, the assessee on the basis of such assessment; (xxxi) the National Faceless Assessment Centre shall, after completion of assessment, transfer all the electronic records of the case to the Assessing Officer having jurisdiction over the said case for such action as may be required under the provisions of this Act; (xxxii) if at any stage of the proceedings before it, the assessment unit 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 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 sub-section (7). (2) The faceless assessment under sub-section (1) shall be made in respect ....
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....on 90 or 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 refer to an Assessing Officer having powers so assigned by the Board; (v) such 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 under sub-clause (b) of clause (xvi) of sub-section (1), 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 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....
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....by a real time alert; (iv) the assessee shall file his response to any notice or order or any other electronic communication, through his registered account, and once an acknowledgment is sent by the National Faceless Assessment Centre containing the hash result generated upon successful submission of response, the response shall be deemed to be authenticated; (v) the time and place of dispatch and receipt of electronic record shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of section 13 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000): (vi) a person shall not be required to appear either personally or through authorised representative in connection with any proceedings before any unit set 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 ....
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....he case, (i) forward the reference received from an assessment unit under clause (xxxii) of sub-section (1) to the Principal Chief Commissioner or Chief Commissioner or Principal Commissioner or Commissioner having jurisdiction over such case, and inform the assessment unit accordingly; (ii) transfer the case to the Assessing Officer having jurisdiction over such case in accordance with sub-section (8); (b) where a reference has been received by the Principal Chief Commissioner or Chief Commissioner or Principal Commissioner or Commissioner under sub-clause (i) of clause (a), he shall direct the Assessing Officer, having jurisdiction over the case, to invoke the provisions of sub-section (2A) of section 142; (c) where a reference has not been forwarded to the Principal Chief Commissioner Chief Commissioner or Principal Commissioner or Commissioner, having jurisdiction over the case, in a case referred to in sub-clause 6) 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 sub-section (1) or sub-section (2), the Pr....
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.... as assigned to it in clause (a) of sub-section (15) of section 144C; (k) "faceless assessment" means the assessment proceedings conducted electronically in 'e- Proceeding' facility through assessee's registered account in designated portal; (l) "electronic record" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in clause (1) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000); (la) "electronic verification code" means a code generated for the purpose of electronic verification as per the data structure and standards specified by the Principal Director General or Director General, as the case may be in-charge of information technology: (m) "eligible assessee" shall have the same meaning as assigned to in clause (b) of sub-section (15) of section 144C; (n) "email" or "electronic mail" and "electronic mail message" means a message or information created or transmitted or received on a com puter, computer system, computer resource or communication device including attachments in text, image, audio, video and any other electronic record, which may be transmitted with the message; (o) "hash ....
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....ice is dated 02.12.2022 and time granted to the Petitioner to tender it's reply online, was up to 09.12.2022. (b) On 08.12.2022, the Petitioner emailed an adjournment request on the Income Tax Department's Portal and sought time till 16.12.2022. (c) On 16.12.2022, the Petitioner attempted to upload it's answer/ explanation. However, the portal window was closed. (d) Therefore, on 16.12.2022 itself, the Petitioner emailed the National Faceless Assessment Centre (NFAC) and sent a further email on the same date to the Samadhan Faceless Assessment Portal. On the same day, the Petitioner was intimated that it's emails were forwarded to the Assessment Unit. (e) On 17.12.2022, an Assessment Order was passed. (f) The Department concedes that the window was closed on 09.12.2022, as the proceedings were closed. (g) There is no communication to the Petitioner in response to his email dated 08.12.2022 as to whether, the Department was extending time or not. 5. We have reproduced Section 144-B herein above. Section 144B(1)(xii)(b) indicates that after the show cause notice is issued stating the variations prejudicial to th....