By IANS,
New Delhi : The government has not directed the income tax department to reopen cases similar to Vodafone’s, parliament was informed Tuesday.
“The decision to reopening or not reopening a case, under section 148 of the Income Tax Act 1961, is taken by the assessing officer on the basis of facts and circumstances of each case. The government has not issued any direction in this regards,” S.S. Palanimanickam, minister of state for finance, said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
According to the minister, because of the limitation provided under section 149 of the Income Tax Act 1961, no case can be reopened beyond the period of six years from the end of relevant assessment year, even if clarificatory amendments date back to an earlier period.
In a separate reply, the minister said Vodafone had not approached the government for an out-of-court settlement of the tax case.
The case relates to the budget proposal to amend the Income Tax Act with retrospective effect to bring into the tax net overseas mergers and acquisitions involving assets in India.