BMW Industries Limited Vs DCIT (ITAT Kolkata)
The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Kolkata, decided a batch of appeals filed by BMW Industries Limited against separate orders of the Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) for Assessment Years (AYs) 2013-14, 2017-18 to 2020-21, 2022-23 and 2023-24. The Tribunal first condoned a delay of 27 days in filing certain appeals after finding that the delay was for bona fide and genuine reasons and admitted those appeals for adjudication.
For AY 2013-14, the dispute related to a disallowance of ₹56,79,609 under Section 14A read with Rule 8D. The Assessing Officer (AO) had made the disallowance on account of investments despite the assessee not having claimed any disallowance. The CIT(A) confirmed the addition. The Tribunal noted that the assessee had not earned any exempt income during the relevant year and held that no disallowance under Section 14A read with Rule 8D could be made in the absence of exempt income. Accordingly, it set aside the CIT(A)’s order and directed deletion of the addition.
For AY 2017-18, the Tribunal admitted additional legal grounds challenging the reopening under Sections 147, 148 and 148A. The assessee contended that the reassessment proceedings initiated pursuant to the Supreme Court’s decision in Union of India v. Ashish Agarwal were barred by limitation in view of Rajeev Bansal. The Tribunal examined the chronology of notices, replies and the surviving limitation period and held that the order under Section 148A(d), the notice under Section 148 and the consequential reassessment under Section 147 had been issued beyond the surviving period of limitation. It therefore quashed the reassessment proceedings.
