Section 149(1)(c) of the Income Tax Act
Income-tax Act, 2025: s.282
Section 149(1)(c) falls under section 149 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, which corresponds to section 282 (Time limit for notices under sections 280 and 281) of the Income-tax Act, 2025.
Read section 282 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 149(1)(c) is 535 (Del); 6. Tata Teleservices v. UOI (385 ITR 497), cited in 163 of the 35 judgments on BharatTax that turn on this section.
Leading authorities on Section 149(1)(c)
Orders passed under section 201(1) are barred by limitation if the prescribed period of limitation under section 201(3) had expired before the amendment by the Finance Act, 2014 came into force. The amended section 201(3) does not apply retrospectively.
Not all receipts constitute income chargeable to tax. An Assessing Officer cannot reject a prima facie reasonable explanation on mere probabilities or arbitrary grounds, but must disprove facts.
An assessee found to be the owner of bullion, etc., must explain its source. The Income Tax Officer must find the assessee to be the owner, not merely in possession.
An Assessing Officer may reject the genuineness of a transaction if the evidence provided by the assessee is not trustworthy, even if the transaction appears to be conducted through cheques or other formal means. The burden of proving the genuineness of a transaction lies primarily on the assessee.
The Income Tax Officer can consider the totality of facts and circumstances to draw inferences and is not limited to direct evidence, as circumstantial evidence is permissible in tax cases.
The case distinguishes itself from situations where an assessee claims non-residency and taxability only on Indian income, by highlighting a scenario where the assessee was the clear beneficial owner of a foreign bank deposit of Rs. 196 crores, failing to explain the contents of a Base Note.
