A division bench of the Delhi High Court has held that re-assessment under section 148A(d) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 since the Assessing Officer failed to provide the details of information based on which the proceedings were initiated.
The Petitioner-assessee, M/s Boutique International Pvt Ltd was issued a letter dated 26th May, 2022, under Section 148A(b) of the Act alleging that the Petitioner had taken bogus accommodation entries from entities controlled by Mr. Himanshu Verma. He states that the Petitioner filed a detailed reply dated 3rd June, 2022, wherein it was stated that the information on the basis of which the reassessment proceedings were sought to be initiated was incorrect as the Petitioner had never entered into any transactions with Mr. Himanshu Verma or any entities controlled by him. He further states that the information such as the pin code and the mobile number of the assessee did not correspond with those of the Petitioner.
A bench of Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora observed that the information furnished to the Petitioner and the impugned order does not specify in which bank account or account number, the alleged amount has been received by the Petitioner.
“Though the impugned order states that the asset is represented by bogus accommodation entries in the form of bank deposits, no details of any such deposit have been mentioned in the impugned order,” the Court said.
Quashing the order, the Court held that “Consequently, the impugned order passed under Section 148A(d) of the Act, as well as the notice issued under Section 148 of the Act both dated 22nd July 2022, for AY 2017-18, are set aside and the matter is remanded back to the Assessing Officer for a fresh determination. In the interest of justice, this Court permits the Assessing Officer to supply additional information, if any, in his possession to the Petitioner-Assessee within four weeks. The Petitioner-Assessee shall be at liberty to file an additional response within four weeks thereafter. The Assessing Officer shall subsequently decide the matter in accordance with law within four weeks.”
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