Indian Courts Hold that Taxpayers Must Be Given Valid Reasons for an Assessment to be Reopened

In two recent decisions of the Karnataka High Court and the Delhi High Court, published 4 November and 5 November 2015 respectively, the courts found that the tax authorities could not reopen assessments without providing a valid reason.

In the Karnataka case, the tax authorities issued a notice for reopening the assessment of a taxpayer. In response, the taxpayer asked the tax authority to treat the return for the year concerned as having been filed in response to the notice, and asked for …