BOMBAY HIGH COURT QUASHED REASSESSMENT ORDER AGAINST HOUSEWIFE WHEN PROPERTY WAS PURCHASED BY HER HUSBAND

The Bombay High Court in the case Kalpita Arun Lanjekar Versus Income Tax Officer observed and has quashed a reassessment order against a housewife when the alleged investment was made by her husband.

The bench comprising of Justice K. R. Shriram and Justice Neela Gokhale in the case observed that, this court also have to notice that, surprisingly, the Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax has also accorded sanction for the issuance of this order instead of directing the AO to drop the proceedings against the petitioner.

In the present case, the petitioner or assessee, the housewife who had no income and therefore was not filing any income tax return, received a notice from the Income Tax Officer under Section 148A(b) of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

It has been stated in the notice issued by the Income Tax Officer that the officer has information that suggests that income chargeable to tax for Assessment Year 2016-2017 has escaped assessment.