Assessing Officer
An assessing Officer is an officer who has jurisdiction to make
assessment of an assessee, who is liable to tax under the Act. The
designation may vary according to the volume of income/nature of trade
as assigned by the Board. It may be an Income-tax Officer, Assistant
Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner Joint Commissioner or an Additional
Commissioner.
For an Assessment year an assessee can have only one Assessing Officer.
Assessment
Assessment means appraisal, evaluation, estimation, measurement,
judgment etc. In the context income tax law it means then evaluation,
estimation, or measurement of income.
Procedure
Procedure means a way, modus operandi, process, a method or a course
of action for completing a particular task.
Scrutiny
Scrutiny means detailed examination, analysis or inquiry into the
income of a person. In order to detect any income concealed by the
assessee.
Assessment by Income Tax Officer
Subject to the qualification that the ITO is free to call for books of
account, vouchers, etc., in any company case where he feels that such a
course is advisable, books of account, vouchers, etc., should not be
called for either in the case of public companies or in the case of
private companies where the accounts have been audited by an auditor
qualified to audit a public company's accounts and he has given a
certificate similar to that given in the case of a public company.
Unless there is some material basis for suspicion, affidavits sworn or
affirmed before Magistrates should not be called for.
The function of the ITO is to use, what he can make, of the assessee's
accounts as he finds them and not to lecture the assessee as to how he
should keep his accounts
Payments covered under section 43B(a)
As far as evidence of payments under clause (a) of section 43B is
concerned, there should normally be no difficulty as the assessee can
enclose the challan, etc., evidencing the payment. In case this is not
possible, for any reason, then the assessee must submit, along with the
return of income, a certificate from an accountant, as defined in the
Explanation to section 288 of the Act. The accountant should verify that
the payment of tax, etc., mentioned in clause (a) and claimed as a
deduction, has been made by the due date for the filing of return under
sub-section (1) of section 139 of the Act.
As regards evidence of payment under clause (c) of section 43B, the
evidence required will be a certificate from an accountant as defined in
the Explanation to section 288 of the Act. For payments of the type
referred to in clause (d) of section 43B, the evidence required would
either be a certificate from the institution concerned, or a certificate
from an accountant as defined in the Explanation to section 288 of the
Act.
The evidence mentioned above is considered sufficient for the purposes of making prima facie adjustments under section 143(1)(a) (as it stood at the relevant time). However, in cases selected for assessment under section 143(3), further evidence can be called for if necessary.