Airbnb Payments India Private Ltd., Haryana V. TPO 1(3)(1), Delhi

ITA 409/DEL/2022

AI Insights

The case involves Airbnb Payments India Pvt. Ltd., which appealed against the order of the National Faceless Assessment Centre, Delhi, concerning the assessment year 2017-18. The primary contention was the validity of the assessment order passed by the Assessing Officer, which was claimed to be beyond the statutory time limit. The Tribunal examined the timeline of the assessment proceedings, including the dates of various orders and the final assessment order, and found that the order was indeed passed beyond the permissible period, leading to the decision to allow the appeal and nullify the assessment order.

• Counselvise Citation: [2023] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 131916 (ITAT-DELHI)
• Duration Of Justice: 1 year(s) 14 day(s)
• Appeal Type: Income Tax Appeal
• Pronouncement Date: 12-03-2023
• Appeal Filed By: Assessee
• Order Result: Allowed
• Bench Allotted: I
• Next Hearing Date: 14-12-2022
• Assessment Year: 2017-2018
• Appeal Filed On: 27-02-2022
• Laws Referred To: Income Tax Act, 1961
• Result in Favour of: Assessee
• Court: TRIBUNAL
• Keywords: Transfer pricing; Set aside
• Section: 143(3); 144C; 153

Judgement Text

THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL DELHIBENCH ‘I’, NEW DELHI Before Dr. B. R. R. Kumar, Accountant Member Sh. Yogesh Kumar US, Judicial Member ITA No. 409/Del/2022 : Asstt. Year: 2017-18 Airbnb Payments India Pvt. Ltd., Level-9, Spaze I Tech Park, A1 Tower, Sector-49, Sohna Road, Gurgoan, Haryana-122018 Vs. The Assessing Officer, National Faceless Assessment Centre, New Delhi (APPELLANT) (RESPONDENT) PAN No. AANCA6203B Assessee by : Sh. Vishal Kalra, Adv. Sh. Ankit Sahani, Adv. Revenue by : Sh. Bhaskar Goswami, CIT DR Date of Hearing: 15.12.2022 Date of Pronouncement: 13.03.2023 ORDER Per Dr. B. R. R. Kumar, Accountant Member: The present appeal has been filed by the assessee against the order dated 30.01.2022 passed by the National Faceless Assessment Centre, Delhi u/s 143(3) r.w.s. 144C(13) of the Income Tax Act, 1961. 2. The assessee is engaged in the business of providing digital enablement platform to digital merchants and mobile operators. 3. The pertinent facts for adjudication of the case are as under: • Date of filing return – 30.11.2017 • Date of order of the TPO – 28.01.2021 • Date of draft order by the AO – 24.03.2021 • Date of order of the DRP – 16.11.2021 ITA No. 409/Del/2022 Airbnb Payments India Pvt. Ltd. 2 • Date of Assessment Order – 30.01.2022 4. The AO at para 4.2 mentions that the ld. DRP passed order on 22.11.2021 and on receipt of the order of the ld. DRP, the DCIT (TP)-1(3)(1), New Delhi vide DIN ITBA/COM/F/17/2021- 22/1037852286(1) dated 16.12.2021 has given effect to the direction of the ld. DRP and proposed an adjustment of Rs.1,32,76,515/- without making any further adjustments in pursuance of the ld. DRP directions. 5. The provisions of Section 144C reads as under: “Reference to dispute resolution panel. 144C. (1) The Assessing Officer shall, notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Act, in the first instance, forward a draft of the proposed order of assessment (hereafter in this section referred to as the draft order) to the eligible assessee if he proposes to make, on or after the 1st day of October, 2009, any variation in the income or loss returned which is prejudicial to the interest of such assessee. (2) On receipt of the draft order, the eligible assessee shall, within thirty days of the receipt by him of the draft order,— (a) file his acceptance of the variations to the Assessing Officer; or (b) file his objections, if any, to such variation with,— (i) the Dispute Resolution Panel; and (ii) the Assessing Officer. (3) The Assessing Officer shall complete the assessment on the basis of the draft order, if— (a) the assessee intimates to the Assessing Officer the acceptance of the variation; or (b) no objections are received within the period specified in sub-section (2). (4) The Assessing Officer shall, notwithstanding anything contained in section 153 or section 153B, pass the assessment order under sub-section (3) within one month from the end of the month in which,— (a) the acceptance is received; or ITA No. 409/Del/2022 Airbnb Payments India Pvt. Ltd. 3 (b) the period of filing of objections under sub-section (2) expires. (5) The Dispute Resolution Panel shall, in a case where any objection is received under sub-section (2), issue such directions, as it thinks fit, for the guidance of the Assessing Officer to enable him to complete the assessment. (6) The Dispute Resolution Panel shall issue the directions referred to in sub- section (5), after considering the following, namely:— (a) draft order; (b) objections filed by the assessee; (c) evidence furnished by the assessee; (d) report, if any, of the Assessing Officer, Valuation Officer or Transfer Pricing Officer or any other authority; (e) records relating to the draft order; (f) evidence collected by, or caused to be collected by, it; and (g) result of any enquiry made by, or caused to be made by, it. (7) The Dispute Resolution Panel may, before issuing any directions referred to in sub-section (5),— (a) make such further enquiry, as it thinks fit; or (b) cause any further enquiry to be made by any income-tax authority and report the result of the same to it. (8) The Dispute Resolution Panel may confirm, reduce or enhance the variations proposed in the draft order so, however, that it shall not set aside any proposed variation or issue any direction under sub-section (5) for further enquiry and passing of the assessment order. Explanation.—For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that the power of the Dispute Resolution Panel to enhance the variation shall include and shall be deemed always to have included the power to consider any matter arising out of the assessment proceedings relating to the draft order, notwithstanding that such matter was raised or not by the eligible assessee. (9) If the members of the Dispute Resolution Panel differ in opinion on any point, the point shall be decided according to the opinion of the majority of the members. (10) Every direction issued by the Dispute Resolution Panel shall be binding on the Assessing Officer. (11) No direction under sub-section (5) shall be issued unless an opportunity of being heard is given to the assessee and the Assessing Officer on such ITA No. 409/Del/2022 Airbnb Payments India Pvt. Ltd. 4 directions which are prejudicial to the interest of the assessee or the interest of the revenue, respectively. (12) No direction under sub-section (5) shall be issued after nine months from the end of the month in which the draft order is forwarded to the eligible assessee. (13) Upon receipt of the directions issued under sub-section (5), the Assessing Officer shall, in conformity with the directions, complete, notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in section 153 or section 153B, the assessment without providing any further opportunity of being heard to the assessee, within one month from the end of the month in which such direction is received. (14) The Board may make rules for the purposes of the efficient functioning of the Dispute Resolution Panel and expeditious disposal of the objections filed under sub-section (2) by the eligible assessee. (14A) The provisions of this section shall not apply to any assessment or reassessment order passed by the Assessing Officer with the prior approval of the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner as provided in sub-section (12) of section 144BA. (15) For the purposes of this section,— (a) "Dispute Resolution Panel" means a collegium comprising of three Principal Commissioners or Commissioners of Income-tax constituted by the Board for this purpose; (b) "eligible assessee" means,— (i) any person in whose case the variation referred to in sub-section (1) arises as a consequence of the order of the Transfer Pricing Officer passed under sub-section (3) of section 92CA; and (ii) any foreign company.” 6. Alas, the final order passed by the Assessing Officer is beyond the period of limitation as provided u/s 144C of the Income Tax Act, 1961 and hence, the same is liable to be declared as null and void. ITA No. 409/Del/2022 Airbnb Payments India Pvt. Ltd. 5 7. In the result, the appeal of the assessee is allowed. Order Pronounced in the Open Court on 13/03/2023. Sd/- Sd/- (Yogesh Kumar US) (Dr. B. R. R. Kumar) Judicial Member Accountant Member Dated: 13/03/2023 *Subodh Kumar, Sr. PS* Copy forwarded to: 1. Appellant 2. Respondent 3. CIT 4. CIT(Appeals) 5. DR: ITAT ASSISTANT REGISTRAR