Sections 292BB and 292C of Income Tax Act 1961: Validity of Notice and Presumption as to Assets and Books
Sections 292BB and 292C of the Income Tax Act, 1961 are procedural and evidentiary provisions. Section 292BB deals with deemed valid service of a statutory notice where an assessee participates in an assessment or reassessment proceeding, subject to an important timely-objection proviso. Section 292C permits specified presumptions regarding assets, books of account and documents found during a search or survey, and also applies to material delivered following a requisition under Section 132A.
Section 292BB - Notice deemed valid in certain circumstances
Meaning: Section 292BB creates a statutory deeming rule concerning service of notice. Where an assessee has appeared in a proceeding or co-operated in an inquiry relating to an assessment or reassessment, a notice required to be served under the Income Tax Act is deemed to have been duly served upon the assessee in time and in accordance with the Act, subject to the proviso contained in the section.
Effect of Section 292BB: An assessee who has appeared or co-operated in the relevant proceeding or inquiry is precluded from objecting that the required notice was:
- not served upon the assessee;
- not served upon the assessee in time; or
- served upon the assessee in an improper manner.
Proviso: The deeming rule does not apply where the assessee raised the relevant objection before completion of the assessment or reassessment.
Why the proviso to Section 292BB matters
The statutory bar is expressly qualified. If the assessee raises an objection concerning service, timing or manner of service before completion of the assessment or reassessment, Section 292BB does not prevent that objection merely because the assessee participated in the proceeding.
Section 292C - Presumption as to assets, books of account and documents
Meaning: Section 292C permits presumptions in proceedings under the Income Tax Act in relation to specified material found in the possession or control of a person during a search under Section 132 or a survey under Section 133A.
Section 292C(1) - Search or survey material
Where books of account, other documents, money, bullion, jewellery or another valuable article or thing are found in the possession or control of a person in the course of a search under Section 132 or survey under Section 133A, it may be presumed in a proceeding under the Act:
- that the books, documents, money, bullion, jewellery or other valuable article or thing belong or belongs to that person;
- that the contents of the books of account and other documents are true; and
- that signatures and handwriting appearing in the books or documents are those of the persons they purport, or may reasonably be assumed, to be from; and, where a document is stamped, executed or attested, that it was duly stamped and executed or attested by the person by whom it purports to have been executed or attested.
Section 292C(2) - Material obtained through requisition under Section 132A
Where books of account, other documents or assets are delivered to the requisitioning officer in accordance with Section 132A, the presumptions in Section 292C(1) apply as if the material taken into custody from the person referred to in the relevant clauses of Section 132A(1) had been found in that person's possession or control during a search under Section 132.
Difference between Section 292BB and Section 292C
Section 292BB concerns service of statutory notices and the effect of an assessee's participation or co-operation in assessment or reassessment proceedings. Section 292C concerns presumptions that may arise from specified assets, books and documents discovered in a search or survey or obtained through a requisition. The provisions therefore operate in different procedural settings.
Related provisions
Section 292BB should be read in the context of the particular notice provision applicable to the assessment or reassessment. Section 292C expressly refers to the Income Tax Act, 1961, including search under Section 132, requisition under Section 132A and survey under Section 133A.
Official legal references
For the authoritative statutory text and amendments applicable to a particular year or proceeding, consult the official Income Tax Department and India Code resources listed alongside this article.