Section 142A

Section 142A — the law in short

What the courts have decided on section 142A, in one screen. Read this first; open an entry when you need the facts, the reasoning and the source.

• Sargam Cinema v CIT Supreme CourtHelps taxpayerSuperseded by amendment
  The AO has sent my cost of construction to the Departmental Valuation Officer without saying a word about my books. Can he do that?
  Not under the section as it then stood. The Supreme Court held the assessing authority could not have referred the matter to the Departmental Valuation Officer without the books of account being rejected, and where the Tribunal had recorded that the books were never rejected, reliance on the DVO's report was misconceived. The appeal was allowed and the Tribunal's order restored. Read this with the caution below: s.142A was substituted with effect from 1 October 2014 and the substituted section says a reference may be made whether or not the officer is satisfied about the correctness of the accounts.
• Vaishali Urvesh Mehta v Assessment Unit (ITAT Surat) — having asked for the reference under section 50C(2), the assessee cannot reject the Valuation Officer's report ITATHelps departmentValidity unconfirmed
  I objected to the stamp duty value, the Assessing Officer referred the matter and the Valuation Officer came back with a figure well above my sale price, though below the stamp value. Can I now attack the report and fall back on my declared consideration?
  Not on a general objection. The Tribunal held that once the assessee herself disputed the stamp valuation and asked for a reference, and the Assessing Officer made it, the procedure under section 50C(2) was duly followed; section 50C(3) then provides that the value determined by the Valuation Officer 'shall' be taken as the full value of consideration, and the word 'shall' makes it mandatory for the officer to adopt it. The assessee cannot request a reference and then ask for the resulting valuation to be rejected because it came out higher than her own figure.
• Naina Saluja v DCIT ITATHelps taxpayerValidity unconfirmed
  The officer sent my property to the Valuation Officer. Does that give him extra time to finish the assessment?
  No, not where the reference is under s.50C. The extension in clause (iv) of Explanation 1 to s.153 is given only where the Assessing Officer makes a reference to the Valuation Officer under s.142A(1); a reference under s.50C or s.55A does not stop the clock. The assessment, completed after the ordinary period had run out, was quashed as barred by limitation.

Listed strongest first: Supreme Court, then High Court, then Tribunal, then CBDT. Nothing here has yet been read in full by a chartered accountant — open an entry to see where it came from.