AO Must Pass Draft Assessment If He Proposes Variation In Returned Income: Chennai ITAT Explains Scope Of Sec 144C
Live LawThe Chennai ITAT held that the AO must pass a draft assessment order to the eligible assessee in case he proposes to make any variation in the income or loss returned which is prejudicial to the interest of such assessee. Section 144C of the Income Tax Act provides that in case of certain eligible assessees, viz., foreign companies and any person in whose case transfer pricing adjustments have been made under sub-section of section 92CA, the AO is required to forward a draft assessment order to the eligible assessee, if he proposes to make any variation in the income or loss returned which is prejudicial to the interest of such assessee. The Bench of Manu Kumar Giri and Manoj Kumar Aggarwal while expanding the scope of Sec 144C by defining eligible assessee as a non-resident not being a company, observed that AO is quite empowered to issue draft assessment order even in cases where he proposes to make any variation which is prejudicial to the interest of the assessee. Going further, the Bench elaborated that the Finance Bill, 2020 has amended the law and propose issuance of draft assessment orders in the case of eligible assessees mandatorily even when there is no variation in the income or loss returned by the assessee.