TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2024 (10) TMI 360
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....ing the addition of Rs. 22,92,130/- made by the Ld. AO as long termcapital gain of the appellant of AY 2018-19. 5) Without prejudice to the above, necessary directions may be given to Ld. AO to give the credit of taxes paid by the partners in this regard, to the Appellant. 6) Without prejudice to the above, necessary directions may be given to Ld. AO to reduce such income in the hands of the partners and to give consequential effect The Ld. CIT(A), NFAC, erred in disallowing brokerage expenses of Rs. 65,000/-. 7) The Ld. AO, NeAC, has erred in the levying interest under section 234A and 234B of the Act. 8) The Ld. AO, has erred in initiating penalty proceeding u/s 274 r.w.s. 270A of the Act. 9) The Appellant craves leave to add, to amend, alter/delete and/or modify the above grounds of appeal on or before the final hearing" 3. Grounds no. 1-3, raised in assessee's appeal pertain to the validity of reassessment proceedings initiated under section 147 of the Act. 4. As far as the issue relating to the validity of reopening under section 147 of the Act, the brief facts are that the assessee is a firm. Since the assessee was a non-filer of the return for the year under cons....
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....or General or Chief Commissioner or Director General. 6. On the contrary, the learned Departmental Representative ("learned DR") vehemently relied on the order passed by the lower authorities. 7. We have considered the submissions of both sides and perused the material available on the record. Before proceeding further, it is pertinent to note the provisions of the Act, which are relevant for deciding the issue at hand. The relevant provisions of section 148 of the Act, as amended by Finance Act 2021, read as follows: - "148. Before making the assessment, reassessment or re-computation under section 147, and subject to the provisions of section 148A, the Assessing Officer shall serve on the assessee a notice, along with a copy of the order passed, if required, under clause (d) of section 148A, requiring him to furnish within a period of three months from the end of the month in which such notice is issued, or such further period as may be allowed by the Assessing Officer on the basis of an application made in this regard by the assessee, a return of his income or the income of any other person in respect of which he is assessable under this Act during the previous year correspo....
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....the end of the relevant assessment year, the Specified Authority for the purpose of granting prior approval, as required under section 148 of the Act, is Principal Chief Commissioner or Principal Director General or Chief Commissioner or Director General. 11. We find that while considering a similar issue the Hon'ble Jurisdictional High Court in Siemens Financial Services (P.) Ltd. v/s DCIT, (2023) 457 ITR 647 (Bom.) held that where the Assessing Officer issued a reopening notice beyond the period of three years, approval was required to be taken as per provisions of amended section 151 from the Principal Chief Commissioner or Principal Director General or Chief Commissioner or Director General. The relevant observations of the Hon'ble High Court, in the aforesaid decision, are reproduced as follows: - "20. Under Section 151 "specified authority" for the purposes of section 148 and section 148A shall be, if three years or less than three years have elapsed from the end of the relevant assessment year, Principal Commissioner or Principal Director or Commissioner or Director. If more than three years have elapsed from the end of the relevant assessment year, then Principal Chief C....
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....aw as the approval should have been obtained in terms of section 151(ii) and not section 151(i) of the Act and the PCIT-8 cannot be the specified authority as per section 151 of the Act. Further, even in the affidavit-in-reply, the department has accepted that the approval obtained is of the 'Principal Commissioner of Income-tax - 8' and, hence, such an approval would be bad in law. 25. TOLA, enacted on 29th September 2020 and came into force on 31st March 2020. It inter alia, provided for a relaxation of certain provisions of the Income-tax Act, 1961. Where any time limit for completion or compliance of an action such as completion of any proceedings or passing of any order or issuance of any notice fell between the period 20th March 2020 to 31st December 2020, the time limit for completion of such action stood extended to 31st March 2021. Thus, TOLA only seeks to extend the period of limitation and does not affect the scope of section 151. 26. The Assessing Officer cannot rely on the provisions of TOLA and the notifications issued thereunder as section 151 has been amended by Finance Act, 2021 and the provisions of the amended section would have to be complied with by....