What can the Assessing Officer call for under s.142(1), and what follows if the assessee does not comply?
Section 142(1) is the officer's inquiry power: it lets him call for a return, for accounts and documents, and for information in the form he specifies. Non-compliance carries two distinct consequences, a best judgment assessment under s.144 and a penalty under s.272A(1)(d), and the penalty is relieved where reasonable cause is shown under s.273B.
The section has three limbs. The officer may require a person who has not filed a return to file one; he may require production of accounts or documents he specifies; and he may require information on points or matters, including statements of assets and liabilities, subject to the statutory restrictions on going too far back and, for the third limb, prior approval of the Joint Commissioner. It is an inquiry power, so it must relate to the assessment in hand and a reasonable time to comply must be given. If the assessee fails to comply, the officer may proceed to a best judgment assessment under s.144, but only after the show cause notice the proviso to s.144(1) requires. Separately, s.272A(1)(d) allows a penalty for each default in complying with a notice under s.142(1) or s.143(2). Tribunals have repeatedly deleted these penalties where the default was not deliberate, most commonly where notices went only to a consultant's registered email that was not monitored, holding that s.273B relief applies once reasonable cause is shown. Two mistakes are common: treating the s.272A penalty as automatic once a default is recorded, and not answering the notice at all when a written request for time would preserve the reasonable cause defence.
You took a cash loan and now face penalty equal to the whole amount. Is there any relief?
I am an MES contractor and the department supplies me cement and steel at fixed rates. The Income-tax Officer added the value of that material to my cash receipts before applying a flat rate. Can he?
The Income-tax Officer examined witnesses behind my back and used their statements against me. Is that material evidence at all?
Can I go straight to the High Court against an income-tax order instead of filing the statutory appeal?
The officer rejected my books without giving reasons and added half my interest receipts as concealed income for five years. Can he do that?
The Assessing Officer has disallowed the whole difference between the statutory minimum cane price and the State advised price my sugar co-operative paid its members. Can he?
Can the Assessing Officer estimate income on departmental material the assessee has never been shown?
The Assessing Officer has fastened buy-back tax under s.115QA on my company. Do I have a right of appeal, or must I go to the High Court by writ?
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