ITAT CHENNAI BENCH ‘A’
Intimate Fashions (India) (P.) Ltd.
versus
Assistant Commissioner of Income-tax, Company Circle II(3), Chennai
IT APPEAL NO. 1513 (MDS.) OF 2012
[ASSESSMENT YEAR 2008-09]
JANUARY 29, 2013
ORDER
N.S. Saini, Accountant Member – This is an appeal filed by the assessee against the order of the Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP), Chennai, dated 4.6.2012.
2. The appeal was heard on the following grounds of appeal raised by the assessee on the limitation aspect of the order passed by the Assessing Officer:
“11. The Appellant submits that the order passed by AO, being beyond the time limit prescribed u/s 144C of the Act, is not valid in law.
12. The Appellant, therefore, submits that the Assessment order may be annulled and that, the additions made may be deleted.”
3. The A.R of the assessee has filed written arguments which reads as under:
“1. Contention of the Appellant
The appellant submits that the assessment order dated 15 June 2012 passed by the learned Assessing Officer (‘AO’) is time barred as the same is passed beyond the time limit prescribed in section 144C(4) of the Act.
2. Our submissions
2.1 Relevant provisions of section 144C of the Act reproduced below for ready reference.
2.1.1 Section 144C(2) of the Act
On receipt of the draft order, the eligible assessee shall, within thirty days of the receipt by him of the draft order –
(a) File his acceptance of the variations to the Assessing Officer; or
(b) File his objections, if any, to such variation with –
(i) The Dispute Resolution Panel; and
(ii) The Assessing Officer
2.1.2 Section 144C(4) of the Act
The Assessing Officer shall, notwithstanding anything contained in section 153[or 153B] pass the assessment order under sub-section (3) within one month from the end of the month in which –
(a) The acceptance is received; or
(b) The period of filing of objections under sub-section (2) expires
2.2 As per the provisions of the section 144C(4) of the Act, in case the AO does not receive the objections from the assessee within the time limit prescribed under section 144C(2) for filing of objections by the assessee, the Assessing Officer is mandatorily required to pass the assessment order under section 144C(3) within one month from the end of the month in which the period of filing of objections under sub-section (2) expires.
2.3 To illustrate, suppose the draft order is received by the eligible assessee on 4.1.2010. In this case, if the assessee neither files acceptance nor objections within the time limit specified under section 144C(2) of the Act, the AO will have to pass assessment order on or before 31.3.2010 being one month from the end of month in which the period of filing objections by the assessee (3.2.2010) expires.
2.4 For ease of reference, we have captured the facts of case before your honors along with timelines as prescribed under section 144C(2) of the Act and 144C(4) of the Act in the table below:
