Change Of Opinion – When Inapplicable??

In the ever-evolving jurisprudence surrounding the power of Revenue to undertake reassessment, the Supreme Court in a recent decision had the occasion to analyse and explain the doctrine of ‘change of opinion’. In the case of Sanand Properties (P.) Ltd. v. JCIT¹, the Supreme Court while upholding the reassessment has clarified that the defence of ‘change of opinion’ would be inapplicable where though the relevant documents are furnished however, there is a failure on the part of the taxpayer to specifically draw the attention of the AO to the material facts emerging from those documents.

The dispute arose in the context of reassessment proceedings where the taxpayer contended that the reopening was based entirely on documents that already formed part of the original assessment record. Clarifying the principle laid down in Kelvinator of India Ltd.², the Supreme Court identified two scenarios namely, first where the material which forms the basis of reason to believe for initiating