TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (3) TMI 1498
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....s purchases from M/s.Flash Forge Pvt Ltd. (hereinafter 'company'). The notice was responded to on 17.03.2022 wherein the petitioner denied to have made any purchases from company. Rather the stand taken was that the petitioner had made sales to the company. In continuation of the notice, communication dated 20.03.2022 was issued wherein the petitioner was asked to explain the transactions with company. The petitioner filed reply on 21.03.2022 explaining the sales to the tune of Rs.1,22,46,936/- made to company. Along-with reply the purchase orders, copy of letter of credits, invoices wherein the GST was separately charged, dimension report, mill test certificates, deliver challan/ packing list, transport bilties and copy of sales register were annexed. 3. The AO decided that it is a fit case to proceed under Section 148 of the Act holding that the evidence of sending the material to the premises of the company was not produced and it was a case of an accommodation entry by getting bogus invoices. 4. Learned senior counsel for the petitioner submits that the reopening of assessment was on surmises and conjectures in absence of any material. Contention is that the material....
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....8/2022 for issuance of notice u/s 148 of the Act. XX XX XX XX v. Explanation 2 to section 148 of the Act provides that if a survey u/s 133A of the Act (other than under section 133A (2A)) was conducted in the case of the assessee on or after 1 April, 2021, the Assessing officer shall be deemed to have information which suggests that income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment. However, it is to clarify that the due procedure as prescribed u/s 148A needs to be followed in such cases also before issuing a notice u/s 148 of the Act. (refer proviso to section 148A). vi. The AO shall, if required, undertake enquiries on any "information" received/available with him which suggests that the income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment in a previous year only with the prior approval of "specified authority". vii. If the result of enquiry/information available suggests that the income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment, the AO shall provide an opportunity of being heard to the assessee by issuing a show cause notice u/s 148A(b) of the Act. The said notice shall provide between 7 to 30 days' time to the assessee for submitting the reply. A template of show is enclose....
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....Madam/M/s. 1. Whereas I have information which suggests that income chargeable to tax for the Assessment Year has escaped assessment within the meaning of Section 147 of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The details of the information/enquiry conducted on which reliance is being placed, along with supporting documents, are enclosed with this notice. 2. You are required to show-cause as to why, in view of the details contained in enclosures mentioned in point number 1 above, a notice under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 should not be issued. 3. You may submit your reply to this notice, along with supporting documents (if any) on the above mentioned issues on or before ______________electronically at www.incometax.gov.in. Guidelines for Enclosures * The AO should enclose copy of all the relevant 'information' available on which reliance is being placed, along with supporting documents (if any). * In the cases where information is received from the investigation wing or any other law enforcement agency, details of letter, brief summary of information along with relevant portion of such report and details of relied upon documents may be enclosed. Such a portion as does....
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....on 148A of the IT Act is a new provision which is in the nature of a condition precedent. Introduction of section 148A of the IT Act can thus be said to be a game changer with an aim to achieve the ultimate object of simplifying the tax administration, ease compliance and reduce litigation. * 6.3 But prior to pre-Finance Act, 2021, while reopening an assessment, the procedure of giving the reasons for reopening and an opportunity to the assessee and the decision of the objectives were required to be followed as per the judgment of this Court in the case of GKN Driveshafts (India) Ltd. (supra). * 6.4 However, by way of section 148A, the procedure has now been streamlined and simplified. It provides that before issuing any notice under section 148, the assessing officer shall (i) conduct any enquiry, if required, with the approval of specified authority, with respect to the information which suggests that the income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment; (ii) provide an opportunity of being heard to the assessee, with the prior approval of specified authority; (iii) consider the reply of the assessee furnished, if any, in response to the showcause notice referred to in clause ....
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....uiry with regard to material available suggesting escaped assessment, the Assessing Officer ('AO') can proceed to enquire after prior approval of specified authority. The assessee is to be provided an opportunity of hearing. The information relied upon along-with outcome of the enquiry is to be supplied. In case of an information having been received from the investigation wing or the other agency, the summary of information along-with the relevant portion of report and details of the documents relied upon is to be supplied. The decision to proceed under Section 148 on the basis of material available with the department and after considering the reply filed by the petitioner is to be taken after prior approval of the specified authority. An exception has been provided by the proviso to Section 148A of the Act with regard to applicability of procedure under Section 148A of the Act. 9. In the present case, the notice under Section 148A(b) of the Act was issued on the basis of information received from the Goods and Services Tax authorities. On that basis the AO issued a notice to the petitioner for explaining the purchases made from the company. The stand was changed after....
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....aped assessment for proceeding under Section 148, fishing and roving enquiry to find income escaped from tax cannot be made. The changed instance of the AO during the pendency of notice under Section 148A(b) of the Act, in fact was issued for testing the relevance of the material received from GST authority vis-a-vis escapement of tax under the Act which is not permitted. 14. Be that as it may, the petitioner filed another reply explaining the sales figure which are equivalent to the figure mentioned by the AO in the notice. The stand of the petitioner was substantiated by annexing transportation documents, invoices showing GST having been charged separately, testing reports and evidence that the consideration passed through banking channels. Instead of dealing with the documents produced by the petitioner and verifying the transaction, the material produced was brushed under the carpet by the AO stating that the movement of the goods from premises of petitioner to the company was not proved. 15. The stand taken by the AO has two fold fallacy. The distinction of nature of investigation to be made by the GST authorities and the income tax authorities has been given a go- bye. Seco....