Shib Nath Ghosh Vs ITO (ITAT Kolkata)
In a ruling with implications for tax assessment procedures, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Kolkata Bench, has set aside an assessment order, holding it invalid due to a technical defect in the notice issued to the assessee. The case involved Mr. Shib Nath Ghosh and the Income Tax Officer, National E-assessment Centre, concerning the assessment year 2018-19.
Mr. Ghosh had appealed against the order of the National Faceless Appeal Centre (CIT(A)), which had dismissed his challenge to the assessment order passed under Section 143(3) read with Section 144B of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The assessment had resulted in a total income computation of Rs. 57,38,240.
Before the ITAT, the assessee raised additional legal grounds concerning the validity of the assessment proceedings from the outset. The primary contention was that the notice issued under Section 143(2) of the Act, dated August 9, 2017, was invalid because it did not comply with the mandatory instructions issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) vide Instruction F.No.225/157/2017/ITA-II dated June 23, 2017.
The CBDT instruction, according to the assessee’s representative, mandated that notices under Section 143(2) must be issued in one of three specified formats: Limited Scrutiny (Computer Aided Scrutiny Selection), Complete Scrutiny (Computer Aided Scrutiny Selection), or Compulsory Manual Scrutiny. The assessee argued that the notice received did not adhere to any of these prescribed formats, rendering it invalid and consequently making the entire assessment based on such a notice void.
