The Faceless Assessment Scheme, 2019 (the Scheme) has been incorporated in the Act vide the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020. Section 144B of the Act pertaining to Faceless Assessment was inserted by the said amendment w.e.f. 01.04.2021.
Section 144B(2) mandates that the faceless assessment under sub-section (1) shall be made in respect of such territorial area, or persons or class of persons, or incomes or class of incomes, or cases or class of cases, as may be specified by the Board.
The Government had issued Order under sub-section (2) of Section 144B of the Income tax Act, 1961 (the Act), for specifying the scope / cases to be done under the Act, by F.No.187/3/2020-ITA-1 dated 31st March 2021, wherein it was specified that all the assessment proceedings pending as on 31.03.2021 and the assessment proceedings initiated on or after 01.04.2021 (other than those in the Central Charges and
International Taxation Charges) which fall under the “class of cases” as defined in the said Order shall be completed under section 144B (faceless) of the Act.
The above Order was amended by Orders of even number dated 6th September 2021, 22nd September 2021 and 16th December 2021, and now the Central Board of Direct Taxes has issued Order vide F. No. 187/3/2020-ITA-1 dated 17th March 2022 under section 144B(2) of Income-tax Act, 1961 hereby directs that in addition to the exclusion of the cases in the said Orders, the following shall be excluded from the purview of section 144B of the Act:
Cases for which the time limit for completion expires on March 31, 2022 pending with the jurisdictional Assessing Officer as on March 15, 2022 or thereafter, which cannot be completed as per the procedure laid down under Section 144B of the Act due to technical procedural constraints in the given period of limitation.
In other words in the above case faceless assessment will not be mandatory.
Read / Download Order at: https://incometaxindia.gov.in/Lists/Latest%20News/Attachments/511/187-3-2020-ITA-I-Sub-section-2-of-Section-144B-dated-17-03-2022.pdf
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