4[Income
escaping assessment.
5147. If the 6[Assessing] Officer 7[has reason to believe8] that any income chargeable to tax has
escaped assessment8 for any
assessment year, he may, subject to the provisions of sections
148 to 153, assess or reassess8 such income and also any other income
chargeable to tax which has escaped assessment and which comes to his notice
subsequently in the course of the proceedings under this section, or recompute
the loss or the depreciation allowance or any other allowance, as the case may
be, for the assessment year concerned (hereafter in this section and in sections 148 to 153
referred to as the relevant assessment year) :
Provided that where an assessment under sub-section (3) of section 143 or this section has been made for the
relevant assessment year, no action shall be taken under this section after the
expiry of four years from the end of the relevant assessment year, unless any
income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment for such assessment year by
reason of the failure9 on the part
of the assessee to make a return under section 139
or in response to a notice issued under sub-section (1) of section 142 or section 148
or to disclose fully and truly all material facts9 necessary for his assessment, for that
assessment year:
10[Provided
further that the Assessing Officer may assess or reassess such income,
other than the income involving matters which are the subject matters of any
appeal, reference or revision, which is chargeable to tax and has escaped
assessment.]
Explanation 1.—Production before the Assessing Officer of account
books or other evidence from which material evidence could with due diligence
have been discovered by the Assessing Officer will not necessarily9 amount to disclosure within the meaning
of the foregoing proviso.
Explanation 2.—For the purposes of this section, the following
shall also be deemed to be cases where income chargeable to tax has escaped
assessment, namely :—
(a) where no return of income has been furnished
by the assessee although his total income or the total income of any other
person in respect of which he is assessable under this Act during the previous
year exceeded the maximum amount which is not chargeable to income-tax ;
(b) where a return of income has been furnished
by the assessee but no assessment has been made and it is noticed by the
Assessing Officer that the assessee has understated the income or has claimed
excessive loss, deduction, allowance or relief in the return ;
(c) where an assessment has been made, but—
(i) income chargeable to tax has been
underassessed ; or
(ii) such income has been assessed at too low a
rate ; or
(iii) such income has been made the subject of
excessive relief under this Act ; or
(iv) excessive loss or depreciation allowance or
any other allowance under this Act has been computed.]
11[Explanation
3.—For the purpose of assessment or reassessment under this section, the
Assessing Officer may assess or reassess the income in respect of any issue,
which has escaped assessment, and such issue comes to his notice subsequently
in the course of the proceedings under this section, notwithstanding that the
reasons for such issue have not been included in the reasons recorded under
sub-section (2) of section 148.]