Limited scrutiny - through e mail or personal appearence?

Others 1068 views 7 replies

Satyanarayana

General

37 Points Joined August 2012

I received a notice through email which goes like this ....
Notice under section 143(2) of the Income Tax Act, 1961
Limited Scrutiny
Sir/ Madam/ M/s,
This is for your kind information that the return of income for Assessment Year 2015-16 filed vide
ack. no. NNNNNN on 30/08/2015 has been selected for Scrutiny. Following issues have
been identified for examination:
i. Foreign Bank Account
2. In view of the above, we would like to give you an opportunity to produce, or cause to be
produced, any evidence which you feel is necessary in support of the said return of income on
17/08/2016 at 12:05 PM in the office of the undersigned.
3. Sending a communication to the undersigned in this regard shall also be treated as sufficient
compliance in case no evidence is sought to be produced as required in Para 2 above.
4. Specific questionnaire/ show-cause notice shall be sent giving you another opportunity in case any
adverse view is contemplated.
5. (#) The assessment proceeding in your case is proposed to be conducted through email based
communication. The email provided in the said return of income shall be used for communication for
this purpose. In case you wish to communicate through any other alternate email, the same may
kindly be informed. A brief note regarding benefits of this facility and procedure is enclosed overleaf.
In case you do not wish to participate in this taxpayer friendly initiative, you may convey your refusal
to the undersigned by the above mentioned date. In case, you wish to opt out from this scheme at
any subsequent stage due to any technical difficulties faced by you, the same can be done with prior
intimation to the undersigned.
(#) applicable only in case of taxpayers whose Income-tax jurisdiction falls in the cities of
Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata or Mumbai
Yours faithfully,

Now the question is,
1. is it enough to reply by email or is it necessary to personally attend ? I am not able to figure out that based on the wording in point 3 above. (Regarding evidence...)
2. I heard that even if the notice mentions it as limited scrutiny, AO can ask for all general documentation like ' computation of income', details of all incomes and supporting documentation etc. Is that normal?
Thank you

Replies (7)

Mehul

Article

45 Points Joined January 2010

Hi,

Even my client has also received this type of limited scrutiny notice.

I am bit confused about it and have same questions in my mind.

And in my case they have asked about the purchase of property only. So if i send them the details of property purchases by email then is it enough?

reply.

SHAIK KHAJA MOINUDDIN

AUDITOR

22 Points Joined December 2013

in such cases the response can be made through email only if the the jurisdiction of the AO is in seven of the cities viz.chennai, Ahmadabad, Mumbai, new Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, hyd

Satyanarayana

General

37 Points Joined August 2012

Thank you for your reply. Yes, that condition is satisfied. (Being in one of those cities). But in the email given above, what is the meaning of "in case no evidence is sought" in point 3?

Thank you

CA Harshal Totla

Chartered Accountant

2229 Points Joined May 2014

Firstly, the said notice is served within the time limit i.e. 30.09.2016.
The notice for scrutiny assessment is issued to you in respect to your foreign bank account limited scrutiny purpose. You are supposed to furnish evidences in regards to the said account only. The issue of scrutiny notice to you was in fact obvious as the dept. is now a days very concerned and became vigilant in respect of your foreign assets/bank accounts. But you need not worry if the sources of money transferred is in white money and you are in a position to prove the nature and source of the same.
It is adviced that you should attend these proceedings by appointing a good CA in practice as your representative to the case. Otherwise, what happens is the officials can harass you as you are not much aware of the provisions.
Regards...

Satyanarayana

General

37 Points Joined August 2012

Looks like that still happens a lot.(harassment). Too sad isn't it? The purpose of limited scrutiny is getting lost... But thanks anyways.

ACA Anurag

Enjoy the little things

14706 Points Joined August 2012

Dear Satyanarayan,

Send your response online as this type of scuitiny taken care by CPC-Bangalore itself

Kindly like if my forum has helped you

Originally posted by : Satyanarayana
	I received a notice through email which goes like this .... Notice under section 143(2) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 Limited Scrutiny Sir/ Madam/ M/s, This is for your kind information that the return of income for Assessment Year 2015-16 filed vide ack. no. NNNNNN on 30/08/2015 has been selected for Scrutiny. Following issues have been identified for examination: i. Foreign Bank Account 2. In view of the above, we would like to give you an opportunity to produce, or cause to be produced, any evidence which you feel is necessary in support of the said return of income on 17/08/2016 at 12:05 PM in the office of the undersigned. 3. Sending a communication to the undersigned in this regard shall also be treated as sufficient compliance in case no evidence is sought to be produced as required in Para 2 above. 4. Specific questionnaire/ show-cause notice shall be sent giving you another opportunity in case any adverse view is contemplated. 5. (#) The assessment proceeding in your case is proposed to be conducted through email based communication. The email provided in the said return of income shall be used for communication for this purpose. In case you wish to communicate through any other alternate email, the same may kindly be informed. A brief note regarding benefits of this facility and procedure is enclosed overleaf. In case you do not wish to participate in this taxpayer friendly initiative, you may convey your refusal to the undersigned by the above mentioned date. In case, you wish to opt out from this scheme at any subsequent stage due to any technical difficulties faced by you, the same can be done with prior intimation to the undersigned. (#) applicable only in case of taxpayers whose Income-tax jurisdiction falls in the cities of Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata or Mumbai Yours faithfully, Now the question is, 1. is it enough to reply by email or is it necessary to personally attend ? I am not able to figure out that based on the wording in point 3 above. (Regarding evidence...) 2. I heard that even if the notice mentions it as limited scrutiny, AO can ask for all general documentation like ' computation of income', details of all incomes and supporting documentation etc. Is that normal? Thank you

babugr

dgm

512 Points Joined February 2014

The email based scrutiny has been introduced to minimise / avoid face to face interaction with the AO where other matters (like harassment etc.) can be reduced if not eliminated completely. As a trial base the IT dept started with 7 cities and is expected to cover all places, the only drawback is with technical skill required on both ends and also as rightly suggested an experienced CA would be the right choice to deal with such cases.