The Bombay High Court directed the tax department to issue necessary certificates to the assessee, who has fully paid all dues under the Income Declaration Scheme, 2016 ( IDS ).
The petitioner sought the court’s direction for the tax department to proceed with the declaration made under IDS and issue the required Form 4 Certificate of Declaration.
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It was submitted by the counsel for the petitioner that, “the entire basis for the Assessing Officer to proceed on such assumption that the Petitioner had not deposited the tax was incorrect, inasmuch as the Petitioner had deposited the tax amounts on 30 November, 2016, 30 March, 2017 and 30 September, 2017, the challans of which are also annexed to this petition at Exhibit B1 and B2.”
Suresh Kumar, Counsel for the Respondents tendered a reply affidavit of Santosh Kumar, Income Tax Officer Ward-9(1), Pune. It was stated that as per the details available with the Respondent and as per the details of challans furnished by the assessee, the seven payments were made by the Petitioner totaling to an amount Rs.1,48,50,000/- towards the liability against the declaration made under the IDS.
It was thus contended that there was no question of any mismatch and/or such payments not being taken into consideration while issuing the impugned notice as also passing of the reassessment order under Section 147 read with Section 144 and 144B of the Income Tax Act as impugned.
The petitioner had earlier contested the basis of the assessing officer’s notice, arguing that the tax amounts had been fully deposited by the deadlines on November 30, 2016, March 30, 2017, and September 30, 2017.
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The court determined that the assessment order against the petitioner was not legally valid, highlighting that the department itself acknowledged the full payment made by the petitioner under the IDS. Consequently, the petitioner was held to be entitled to the benefits of the scheme.
The tax department, upon reviewing the challans provided by the assessee, confirmed that payments totaling Rs. 1,48,50,000 were made against the declaration under IDS.
The court concluded that the assessing officer’s assumption of non-compliance by the petitioner was incorrect. As a result, the court ordered the tax department to issue the appropriate tax deposit certificates under IDS within four weeks.
It was noted that, “that the Petitioner in fact complied with all the requirements under the IDS as also appropriate amount of tax was deposited is sufficient for this Court to accept the case of the Petitioner.”
The bench comprising Justice G. S. Kulkarni and Justice Somasekhar Sundaresan observed that the petitioner had met all requirements under the IDS and deposited the appropriate tax amounts.
Sanket S. Bora represented the Appellant and Suresh Kumar appeared as Counsel for Respondent.
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