Delhi HC says Reassessment Cannot Cure the AO’s Own Failure to Examine PE

Elsevier BV, a Netherlands tax resident, had obtained an AAR ruling that its Indian subscription receipts were business income and taxable only if it had a PE in India. After scrutiny examination of the PE issue, the AO later reopened AY 2016-17. The High Court held that the reopening was jurisdictionally unsustainable and, independently, barred by limitation.