Section 34(1A) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922

Section 34(1A) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922 — the law in short

What the courts have decided on section 34(1A) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, in one screen. Read this first; open an entry when you need the facts, the reasoning and the source.

• Sheo Nath Singh v Appellate Assistant Commissioner Supreme CourtHelps taxpayer
  The recorded reasons for reopening my assessment say only that I am believed to have made secret profits and believed to have received a large sum. Is that reason to believe?
  No. The Supreme Court quashed the notices. The words reason to believe mean the belief of an honest and reasonable person on reasonable grounds; the officer may act on direct or circumstantial evidence but not on mere suspicion, gossip or rumour. He acts without jurisdiction if the reason for his belief does not exist or is not material or relevant to the belief the section requires, and the court can always examine that, though it cannot investigate the sufficiency of the reasons. Here the recorded reasons stated no material fact at all - they were themselves expressed as beliefs, an obvious self-contradiction.

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.