Yograjsinh G. Jadeja Vs ITO (ITAT Rajkot)
Vivad Se Vishwas Opted but Tax Payment Doubtful: ITAT Rajkot Restores Matter to AO for Verification
The Rajkot Bench of the ITAT allowed the assessee’s appeal for AY 2017-18 for statistical purposes and remanded the matter to the Assessing Officer to verify whether the assessee had actually paid the tax determined under the Vivad Se Vishwas (VSV) Scheme, 2020.
In this case, the assessment was originally completed ex parte under section 144. The CIT(A) dismissed the assessee’s appeal as deemed withdrawn, holding that the assessee had opted for the VSV Scheme and that a certificate in Form No. 3 had been issued by the Designated Authority. As per section 4(2) of the VSV Act, such issuance results in automatic withdrawal of pending appeals.
However, the Tribunal noted an anomaly: despite opting for the VSV Scheme, the assessee had still filed an appeal before the ITAT, raising a serious doubt as to whether the tax payable under the scheme was actually discharged. The ITAT held that mere issuance of Form No. 3, without payment of the determined tax, would not bring finality to the dispute.
Accordingly, the matter was remitted to the Assessing Officer with a direction to verify whether the assessee had paid the tax under the VSV Scheme. If the tax was not paid, the AO was directed to issue fresh notices, call for details, and frame a de novo assessment on merits in accordance with law after granting due opportunity of hearing. Thus, the appeal was allowed for statistical purposes.
