Section 147(a) of the Income Tax Act
Income-tax Act, 2025: s.279
Section 147(a) falls under section 147 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, which corresponds to section 279 (Income escaping assessment) of the Income-tax Act, 2025.
Read section 279 of the 2025 Act
Correspondence checked against the ICAI tabular mapping of the two Acts and the BharatTax.co section commentary.
The decision most relied on for Section 147(a) is Sonia Gandhi v. ACIT (407 ITR 594), cited in 31 of the 33 judgments on BharatTax that turn on this section.
Leading authorities on Section 147(a)
Approval under section 151 for reopening an assessment is valid if the Assessing Officer records reasons strictly as per law, and the assessee cannot raise this as an additional ground at a belated stage.
A notice issued under section 147 or 148 is bad in law if it is issued to a person who is not the principal officer of the company or if the Assessing Officer has not applied their mind to the facts and reasons before seeking approval under section 151.
Reassessment proceedings initiated by an Assessing Officer who does not exercise their jurisdiction independently but acts at the behest of a superior authority are invalid due to the non-satisfaction of a condition precedent.
