Nisha Diamonds Private Limited Vs ITO (Gujarat High Court)
Facts- Assessee filed the ROI for AY 2012-13 on 24.08.2012 declaring total income at INR 28,910. The assessment u/s 143(3) was completed on 31.03.2014. The purchase transaction with M/s. Agni tuning to INR 14,62,00,000 was the main reason for reopening of the assessment for the year. Mainly, re-opening of the assessment was questioned via writ application. It was also alleged that the said transaction was truly disclosed in the books of accounts hence reopening beyond 4 years is not permissible.
Conclusion- After framing of the assessment made under Section 143(3) of the Act, tangible material came into the hands of the AO through the investigation wing and upon perusal of the same, he made independent inquiries and applied his mind and upon due satisfaction, he formed an opinion that, the income has escaped assessment.
Where the transaction itself on the basis of the subsequent information is found to be a bogus transactions, mere a disclosure of said transaction at the time of original proceedings, cannot be said to be a disclosure of “true and full” facts in the case.
FULL TEXT OF THE JUDGMENT/ORDER OF GUJARAT HIGH COURT
1. By filing this writ application under Article 226, the writ applicant seeks to challenge the notice dated 31.03.2019 issued by the respondent under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (‘the act’ for short) seeking to reopen the applicant’s income assessment for the A.Y 2012-13.
2. The brief facts leading to file the present writ application can be summarized as under:
2.1 The writ applicant – assessee Company filed its return of Income for the A.Y. 201213 on 24.08.2012 declaring total income at Rs. 28,910/ and same was processed under Section 143(3) of the Act and final assessment was completed on on 31.03.2014.
2.2 The Assessing Officer has reopened the assessment under Section 147 by issuing impugned notice dated 31.03.2019 under Section 148 of the Act.
2.3 At the request of the writ applicant, reasons recorded have been furnished to the writ applicant on 09.05.2019, which reads as under :
“2. Since you have filed return of income in response to notice u/s. 148 of the income tax act, therefore, reason for reopening is provided as under:
“ The assessee company filed its Return of Income for the A.Y. 2012-13 on 24.08.2012 declaring total income at Rs. 28,910/. In this case assessment order under Section 143(3) was passed on 31.03.2014.
2. In this case, an information has been received from O/o the DDIT (Inv.), Unit2, Surat through email on 22.03.2019, related to inquiry report in the case of Shri Afroz Mohd. Hasanfatta and group. In this case, Enforcement Directorate (ED) received information through Customs Department Surat that some of the companies opened their bank accounts with ICICI Bank Surat and used their accounts for making foreign remittances against fake import documents. The ED conducted investigation and filed a charge sheet against some persons on 18.07.2014 and later on a supplementary chargesheet was filed on 18.07.2014 before the Special Court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. During the course of investigation by ED, searches at several places were conducted. Further, investigations were also carried by the Income Tax department on the inputs from other Govt. Agencies as well as its own information; which brought the big scam of money laundering to the fore. In the investigation, it was found that foreign remittances have been made by the following 12 entities from their bank accounts to the Dubai and Hongkong based companies on the strength of fake documents for the purpose of money laundering:
