S. 147 : Reassessment-Beyond four years-Tangible material-Reason to believe-In the form of documents, relevant to the issue -Sufficiency of that material cannot dictate the validity of the notice. [S. 148]

Where the “reasons to believe” forming part of the Section 147 of the Act, clearly point to the fact that the reopening of assessment was based on information accessible by the AO that a substantial amount of unaccounted income of promoters/directors was introduced in the closely held companies of the assessee group through Shirish Chandrakant Shah, alleged to be a Mumbai based accommodation entry provider. It was held that information or “tangible material” which the assessing officer comes by enabling re-opening of an assessment, means that the entire assessment (for the concerned year) is at large; the revenue would then get to examine the returns for the previous year, on a clean slate – as it were. As long as there is objective tangible material (in the form of documents, relevant to the issue) the sufficiency of that material cannot dictate the validity of the notice. (SLP (C) No. 22921 of 2019 dated March 28, 2022)
DCIT v. M.R. Shah Logistics Private Limited (SC) www.itatonline.org

[Coram : Hon’ble Justice Shri Uday Umesh Lalit and Hon’ble Justice Shri S. Ravindra Bhat]