Reopening of Assessment as Threshold Income more than Rs. 50 lakhs which has Escaped Assessment: Kerala HC dismisses Writ Petition [Read Order]

The Kerala High Court dismissed a writ petition as there was reopening of assessment because the threshold income was more than Rs. 50 lakhs which has escaped assessment.

The present writ petition has been filed impugning the assessment order in respect of the assessment year 2015-16 under Section 147 read with Section 144C(13) of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

The petitioner is non-resident Indian living in United Arab Emirates. He did not file return of his income for the assessment year 2015-16. Information through Insight portal was received for the assessment year which would disclose that the petitioner had transactions of Rs. 60,08,932/- in the financial year 2014-15 relevant to the assessment year 2015-16.

A notice under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act was issued on 31.03.2022 by the jurisdictional ITO and, thereafter, notice under 144A(d) was passed. The assessing authority was of the opinion that the income of the petitioner has escaped assessment in the relevant year and, therefore, it was a fit case for reopening the assessment. Thus, the income which escaped assessment according to the assessing authority is Rs. 92,63,390/-. This amount is over the threshold limit of Rs. 50,00,000/- as provided under Section 149 of the Income Tax Act.

The Counsel for the petitioner submitted that after assessment the income has come only Rs. 20,29,690/- which had escaped assessment in the relevant year and, therefore, the jurisdictional ITO did not have any jurisdiction to proceed with reopening of the assessment.

A Single Bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh observed that “I find the submission not tenable. It is not the final assessment order which is looked at. But in the estimation of the assessing authority, the threshold income is more than Rs. 50,00,000/- which has escaped assessment, and, therefore, reopened the assessment. Therefore, I find no substance in this writ petition, which is hereby dismissed. The petitioner has filed rectification application. The assessing authority is directed to consider and pass order on the rectification application expeditiously.”

To Read the full text of the Order CLICK HERE

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