TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (3) TMI 866
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... (International Taxation)-2(3)(1), Mumbai (ACIT) erred in passing the impugned assessment order under section 143(3) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (IT Act), which is in grave violation of section 144C of the Act as the Appellant assessee is an Eligible Assessee" under clause (b) of sub Section 15 of Section 144C of the Act and the assessment has been completed without issue of the draft assessment order, which is mandatory as per section 144C of the Act. Thus, the impugned assessment order suffers from an illegality and ought to be quashed on this ground alone. 2. On the facts and in the circumstances of the case and in law, the Learned CIT(A) has erred in upholding disallowance made by Assessing Officer by failing to appreciate that the Ap....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....fic. The assessee earns income from freight from shippers/ customers from the vessel voyages performed. The assessee filed the return of income for AY 2018-19 on 10.09.2018. During the year under consideration, the assessee earned freight income of Rs. 45,57,04,930/- from the vessel voyages performed in the international traffic and claimed the relief under Article-8 of the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) between India and Singapore. The assessee while filing the return of income has disclosed Rs. 3,41,77,870/- (7.5% of Rs. 45,57,04,930/-) as deemed income under the provisions of section 44B of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (the Act). Since the income is not taxable in India by virtue of Article-8 of India and Singapore DTAA, the asse....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....of income outside India and tax relief sought accordingly. The ld. AR further submitted that the assessee instead of treating the income as not taxable under Article-8 of India Singapore DTAA has inadvertently computed 7.5% of the freight income earned under section 44B of the Act and claimed the same as exempt under Article-8. The ld. AR drew the attention of the Bench to the return of income filed by the assessee to submit that the assessee though is eligible for exemption under Article 8 of the DTAA, has erroneously computed income under section 44B @ 7.5% and claimed the same as exempt in the return. The ld. AR submitted that it is a well-settled position that in the case of eligible assessee as per section 144C(15) of the Act, the fina....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ch assessee. (2) to (14) ***** (15) For the purposes of this section,- (a)***** (b) "eligible assessee" means,- (i) any person in whose case the variation referred to in sub-section (1) arises as a consequence of the order of the Transfer Pricing Officer passed under subsection (3) of section 92CA; and (ii) any non-resident not being a company, or any foreign company: Provided that such eligible assessee shall not include person referred to in subsection (1) of section 158BA or other person referred to in section 158BD 6. In assessee's case, it is not in dispute that the assessee is a non-resident foreign company and this fact is being recorded both in the assessment order as well as the CIT(A) order where the residential....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....hat an eligible assessee's grievance can be addressed before a final assessment order is passed and appellate proceedings invoked by it. However, these special rights made available to eligible assessee under Section 144C of the Act are rendered futile, if directly a final order under Section 143(3) of the Act is passed without being preceded by draft assessment order. 6. In the above view, the assessment order dated 23rd March, 2015 passed by the Assessing Officer for the assessment year 2012-13 is completely without jurisdiction. This is so as it has not been preceded by a draft assessment order. Hence, the foundational/basic order viz. the assessment order dated 23rd March, 2015 is set aside and quashed as being without jurisdictio....