TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (3) TMI 1419
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.... Act"), an order dated 30th August, 2024 passed under Section 148A(d) of the IT Act and a notice dated 30th August, 2024 issued under Section 148 of the IT Act issued by the jurisdictional assessing officer i.e. Respondent No. 1 for Assessment Year 2018-19, mainly, on the following grounds: a) Reassessment proceedings are initiated based on a change of opinion by Respondent No.1, and hence are beyond jurisdiction. b) Reassessment proceedings are initiated on the basis of the opinion of the audit wing of the income tax department, and not on any factual error or omission in the original assessment order, and hence, the reopening of assessment is invalid. c) Reassessment proceedings have been undertaken based on audit objections without any independent application of mind by the assessing officer, and hence reopening of assessment is bad in law . d) Reassessment proceedings have been initiated and continued by Respondent No.1 adopting diametrically opposite and contradictory stands, with regard to findings arrived at in the preceding Assessment Year 2016-17, where on identical facts and information in the form of audit objection, the proposed reass....
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....Marathwada Navnirman Lokayat 50,00,000 AAATM4512B Marico Innovation Foundation 2,22,00,000 AAGCM7606M 5. In response to a notice dated 22nd September, 2019, issued under Section 143(2), the Petitioner submitted complete details of the amounts claimed under Section 80G of the IT Act alongwith copies of donation receipts and certificates, vide reply dated 3rd October, 2019. 6. After considering the reply of the Petitioner, Respondent No.3 vide notice dated 16th September, 2021 asked for further supporting documents and a reconciliation in relation to the claim of deductions under Section 80G arising from donations made to "Give India" and "Marico Innovation Foundation" as the amount(s) of donation mentioned in the ITR and the copy of actual receipts submitted by the Petitioner were not matching. The said notice also required the Petitioner to show cause as to why in the absence of the receipts, the corresponding deduction should not be disallowed under Section 80G of the IT Act. 7. Thereafter, vide notice dated 21st September, 2021, the Petitioner was again issued a show cause notice cum draft order of assessment, the relevant portion of which is reproduced be....
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....geable to tax had escaped assessment in the case of the Petitioner and that it was a fit case for issuance of a notice under Section 148 of the IT Act. Pursuant thereto, a notice under Section 148 of the IT Act dated 30th August, 2024 was issued to the Petitioner. 12. In this factual backdrop, Mr. Mistri, the learned Senior Advocate, urged that it is not in dispute that the claim of deduction under Section 80G of the IT Act was thoroughly scrutinised during the original assessment proceedings and allowed after due consideration of the claim. The assessment order itself records that one of the reasons for the selection of the case for scrutiny was the deduction claimed under Chapter VI-A, which included the deduction under Section 80G of the IT Act. The Petitioner had also made the required disclosure regarding expenditure by way of CSR and deductions under Section 80G of the IT Act, in the annual accounts, the tax audit report and the Return of Income, which had already been considered while passing the original assessment order. A portion of the deduction under Section 80G of the IT Act was specifically disallowed in the original assessment order. It is the contention of the Pe....
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....t the amendment in Section 148 by insertion of amended clause (ii) by Finance Act 2022, an audit objection is independently 'information' suggesting escapement of income. 18. Ms. Nagaraj contended that reassessment proceedings had been validly initiated under Section 147 on the basis of tangible material, and this is not a mere change of opinion or mechanical adoption of an audit objection, as alleged by the Petitioner. It was submitted that the said audit memo specifically pointed out that deduction under Section 80G had been erroneously allowed on CSR expenditure, which is not permissible in view of Explanation 2 to Section 37(1) read with the scheme of Section 80G of the IT Act, and thus clearly constituted "information" within the meaning of clause (ii) of Explanation 1 to Section 148 of the IT Act suggesting escapement of income, thereby validly empowering the assessing officer to issue notice under Section 148A(b) and thereafter under Section 148. 19. Having heard the parties, we are of the view that we need not go into all the grounds and rival contentions. In the present case, it is clear that, prior to the passing of the original assessment order, the Respondents hav....
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.... the Assessee had not complied with the provisions of Section 11(2), and disallowed the Assessee's claim for accumulation under Section 11(2) and added the same to the total income of the Assessee for Assessment Year 2018-19. In this case, all the required documents and information were given to the assessing officer during the original assessment proceedings, which included the Resolution of the Trustees of the Petitioner, as well as the information about the details of accumulation made in the last 10 years and the details of utilisation, etc. The Division Bench, after relying upon a decision of another Division Bench in the case of Siemens Financial Services (P.) Ltd. v. Dy. CIT [2023] 154 taxmann.com 159/457 ITR 647 (Bombay) culled out the aforesaid proposition that the Assessing Officer cannot now initiate proceedings under Section 148 of the IT Act to review the earlier stand adopted by the assessing officer. The relevant extract of the decision in Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy Charity Fund (supra) is reproduced as under: ".... 28. Further, after considering the facts and circumstances and perusing the record, we are of the view that the Assessing Officer has look....
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....of Rs. 6,18,60,803/- (being 50% of the aggregate donation) was deducted and claimed under Section 80G of the IT Act. This amount was donation in respect of approved trusts/institutions, for the purposes of Section 80G of the IT Act. The details of the donations were given in the computation of income, which formed part of the Return of Income. Prior to the passing of the original assessment order, the Assessing Officer has raised queries, each of which were duly responded by Petitioner and the copies of receipts of donations were also provided as proof of donation. All these details were also included in the computation of income. Accordingly, this Court held as under:- "14. The notice providing the reasons to believe itself is based on verification of the profit and loss account and computation of income showing the amount of CSR expenses debited under the head 'other expenses' and the said amount being added back and claimed as deduction under Chapter VA as donation. The notice further goes on to say that during the course of original assessment proceedings, neither the AO has asked for any details and information on this issue from Assessee nor has Assessee volunteered ....
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....documents were all provided and disclosed by Petitioner. It is thus a clear case of 'change of opinion' by the AO. The notice of reopening assessment does not by any measure disclose any material leave aside any information leading to formation of cogent and requisite belief. ..." The SLP against the aforesaid order has been dismissed vide order dated 7th April, 2025 in [2025] 304 Taxman 658. 23. Applying the principles laid down by this Court to the facts of the present case, the material on record clearly indicates that the deduction claimed under Section 80G had been examined during the course of the original scrutiny assessment. Queries were raised by Respondent No.3, the Petitioner furnished complete details and supporting documents, and upon consideration thereof, the assessment order dated 25th November, 2021, came to be passed under Section 143(3) read with Sections 144C(3) and 144B of the IT Act, wherein the deduction was substantially allowed except for a minor disallowance. 24. The reopening of the assessment has been initiated on the very same material merely because the audit party has expressed a different view regarding the allowability of the deduction. ....