Courts may be helpless if the assessee does not update his account on the tax portal for email address and telephone no etc failing which any plea/claim of non receipt of notice/order communication may not accede.
The Madras High Court in 2023] 151 taxmann.com 410 (Madras) noticed taxpayer’s accounts containing email address no longer in use or email ids of staff/accountants/chartered accountants who have created the profile of the assessee/file the income tax return and who are no longer in the employment /service of the assessee.
In this case the taxpayer went to the Court with the plea that it is not in receipt of the notice /order under section 148A, ostensibly for the reason that it was sent to an invalid/incorrect email id (old unchanged address) and therefore argued his case on the basis of denial of opportunity on the count of principles of natural justice .
In dismissing taxpayer’s petition the Court held that in today’s times of advanced technology, it becomes incumbent on the assessees to supply proper credentials, including email id and mobile numbers to the Income-tax Department. This is not the singular instance when this Court has had occasion to witness the confusion over multiple email ids that have been furnished by an assessee over the years.
And not only this the Court went a little more harsh when it viewed that the petitioner has not presented the facts in proper colour and has sought to take advantage of a technical mistake in the impugned order. This is wholly unappreciated and deprecated. The petitioner is hence put to terms and will remit a sum of Rupees One Lakh (Rs.1,00,000/-) to the Cancer Institute, Adayar, Chennai.
Message therefore is:
Update personal details on the portal with email address and telephone nos in use and as far as possible also of self and immediate family.