Suggestion on Clause 50 & 51 of Finance Bill 2017- Section 132(1), 132(1A) and 132A(1) – reason to believe to conduct a search, etc. not to be disclosed –retention of existing provisions to reduce undue hardship to genuine assessee
It is proposed to insert an Explanation to section 132(1), 132(1A) and 132A(1) to declare that the ‘reason to believe’ or ‘reason to suspect’, as the case may be, shall not be disclosed to any person or any authority or the Appellate Tribunal. The proposed amendment could lead to unnecessary harassment of taxpayers.
Suggestion:
It is suggested that the requirement of ‘reason to believe‘ or ‘reason to suspect’ may be retained in these sections to reduce undue hardship on genuine assessees. Such reasons may also be permitted to be disclosed to appellate authorities
Source- ICAI Post-Budget Memoranda-2017
