TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (8) TMI 1836
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....29.03.2019 issued under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 as well as the order dated 15.05.2019, whereby the objections filed by the petitioner in response to the said notice were rejected. 2. The petitioner filed his return of income for Assessment Year 2014-15 on 30.08.2014, declaring total income of Rs. 31,63,270/-, comprising income from house property, business or profession, and long-term capital gains. The return was processed under Section 143(1) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, and later selected for limited scrutiny. Notice under Section 143(2) followed, and the petitioner furnished all documents and details called for by the Assessing Officer. 2.1 On completion of scrutiny, the Assessing Officer passed an order under Sect....
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....e dated 29.03.2019 and the rejection order dated 15.05.2019 is that the proceedings under Section 148 are non-est, being founded on a mere change of opinion, impermissible in law as a ground to reopen an assessment already concluded under Section 143. 5. Learned counsel for the respondent submits that this argument misreads the notice and the rejection order, both of which show that the reopening rests not on a change of opinion but on the licensing issue under the Rajasthan Money Lending Act, 1963, which was never examined in the original assessment and is borne out by the record relied upon in those proceedings. 6. At the outset, it may be useful, first, to set out the notice dated 24.04.2019 issued under Section 148, reproduced her....
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....eemed to have been incurred for the purpose of business or profession and no deduction or allowance shall be made in respect of such expenditure." In the light of above nar-rated facts, I have reason to believe that the income to the extent of 35,86,892/- has escaped assessment within the meaning of Section 147 of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Therefore, it is a fit case of issue of notice u/s. 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, for the AY 2014-15" 7. In substance, the petitioner's objections to above notice were, inter alia, twofold, as stated here in after. 7.1. First, the original assessment under Section 143(3) had been completed only after due consideration of all details and documents submitted, and no aspect of the money-lending ....
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....ng on money-lending business, regardless of the mode of advancing money, and that since the petitioner was found to be engaged in such business, the licensing requirement applied to him. 8.2. The objections were accordingly rejected, and the petitioner was directed to cooperate in completing the reassessment. 9. We agree with the reasoning of the Assessing Officer. While it is trite law that an Assessing Officer cannot invoke Section 148 merely because, on a fresh look at the same material, the earlier assessment appears erroneous, that principle protects against reassessment founded on a genuine change of opinion, it does not shield an assessee where the ground for reopening was never considered or examined in the original assessment....