TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2023 (10) TMI 1560
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....impugned Assessment Order dated 22-3-2022 is barred by limitation by 22 days in as much as the Assessing Officer had passed Orders beyond the time limit specified in the Income Tax Act and as such the impugned Order is not valid in law." The ld. counsel for the assessee stated that it has come to the knowledge of the assessee by way of RTI information obtained from Income-tax Department on 30.05.2023 whereby it came to know that DRP order for the year was made available to the AO of National e-Faceless Assessment Centre (Ne FAC) on 31.01.2022 itself and resultantly, in term of section 144C(13) of the Act, final assessment order ought to have been passed on or before 28.02.2022 whereas, in fact, it was passed only on 22.03.2022 after a delay of 22 days. Hence, the assessment order passed is time barred and void ab inito. The ld. counsel stated that all the facts related to above issue are available on record and also obtained by filing application under RTI Act and the response received is also attached. The ld. counsel for the assessee stated that this being purely a legal issue and matter does not require any verification of facts and can be decided on the basis of material alr....
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....tion with its Associated Enterprises (AEs) for an amount of Rs.329,37,30,000/- and hence the case was referred to TPO u/s.92CA of the Act for determination of Arms Length Price (ALP) pertaining to specified domestic transactions entered into by the assessee after taking approval of the competent authority. The TPO passed an order u/s.92CA(3) of the Act vide No. ITBA/TPO/F/92CA3/2020-21/1030199264(1) dated 29.01.2021, wherein the AO computed Arms Length Price adjustment at Rs. 64,83,26,167/- and ALP adjustment was made towards transactions of assessee with its AE's. In response to TPO's order dated 29.01.2021, the AO passed draft assessment order u/s.144C of the Act dated 26.04.2021 in which the AO made following additions :- 1. Addition on account of transfer pricing adjustment Rs. 64,83,26,167/ -. 2. Disallowance on account of deduction u/s 80(IA) of the Act of Rs. 31,72,59,668/ -. 3. Disallowance on account of provisions for bad and doubtful debts of Rs. 33,41,182/ -. 4. Disallowance on account of capital expenditure for power transmission line of Rs. 86,03,389/ -. 5. Disallowance on account of cash deposited during demonetizat....
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....22.03.2022 is barred by limitation as the AO had passed order beyond the time limit specified in the Act and as such, the impugned assessment order is not valid in law. The ld. counsel stated that the assessee has received information from Income-tax Department under RTI on 30.05.2023 that the DRP order for the year was made available to the AO of Ne FAC on 31.01.2022 itself. The ld. counsel for the assessee drew our attention to the RTI information obtained by the assessee from the AO i.e., the Assistant Commissioner of Income tax (HQ) & Secretary, Dispute Resolution Panel-2, Bengaluru, which reads as under :- GOVERNMENT OF INDIA INCOME TAX DEPARTMENT SECRETARIAT, DISPUTE RESOLUTION PANEL-2, BENGALURU 'A' Wing, 4th Floor, Kendriya Sadan, Koramangala, Bengaluru- 560034. Phone & Fax No.080-25505730. Email: [email protected] F.No.52RTI/DRP-2/2023-24 Date: 30.05.2023 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CPIO & ASSISSTANT COMMISSIONER....
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....sessee as well as the AO. He stated that once the AO has received the DRP order on 31.01.2022, he is bound to pass the final assessment order u/s.144C(13) of the Act on or before 28.02.2022 but in fact, it was passed only on 22.03.2022 thereby, there is a time barred assessment order by 22 days. 8. On the other hand, the ld. CIT-DR, Shri Sasikumar submitted that the provisions of section144C(13) of the Act speaks about the time limit for passing of final assessment order by the Assessing Officer after receiving directions from DRP and the same is reproduced below :- "(13) Upon receipt of the directions issued under sub-section (5), the Assessing Officer shall, in conformity with the directions, complete, notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in section 153, the assessment without providing any further opportunity of being heard to the assessee, within one month from the end of the month in which such direction is received." He stated that Provisions of section 144C(13) of the Act lays strong emphasis on the receipt of the order. The provision has used receipt and received, which gives no scope for any further interpretation except the time limit starts f....
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....to your goodself's knowledge that there is no functionality in ITBA through which this office can track the delivery of the directions uploaded through common functions module for Ne FAC, Delhi. Yours faithfully Sd/- (S.P. Pream Kamel) Assistant Commissioner of Income tax (HQ) & Secretary Dispute Resolution Panel-2, Bengaluru. Attention is drawn to point no. 2 of the reply wherein it is stated that the directions were uploaded through common functionality in ITBA for Ne FAC, Delhi on 31.01.2022. Ld CIT DR argued that it is pertinent to mention that in the Faceless Assessment Scheme all the communications to the Faceless Assessing Officer is routed through Ne FAC Delhi. No communication either from or to the faceless AO can take place directly. Attention is further drawn to point 3 of the reply received wherein it is stated that regarding successful delivery of directions to AO (in this case AO, Ne FAC), there is no functionality in ITBA through which this office can track the delivery of the directions uploaded through common functions module of ITBA. Further, the AO in his reply, attached the order sheet/Log downloaded from ITBA, wherein it is clea....