Assessing Officer Can not reopen the Assessment for change of opinion in subsequent years

ITO vs. Ellora Silk Mills (ITAT Mumbai)

(i) Where the AO had accepted in the past that the warehousing charges received by the assessee was business income, he was not justified in reopening the assessment to assess the charges as property income in the absense of any change in the facts and circumstances.

(ii) On merits, though the principle of res-judicata does not apply to income-tax proceedings, the principle of consistency does apply and it is not open to the AO to take a view different from that taken in earlier years on the same set of facts.

Note: See also Aipita Marketing vs. ITO (ITAT Mumbai)