Provisional assessment challenge becomes academic after regular assessment supersedes the earlier order.

A challenge to a provisional assessment becomes academic once a regular assessment for the same period has been made and the parties are governed by that later assessment. The earlier provisional assessment had been set aside because it was not a speaking order, but the remand order did not record any binding finding on the tax rate. As no such finding controlled the subsequent regular assessment, the validity of the provisional assessment no longer required adjudication, and the challenge did not survive.

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Issues: Whether the challenge to the provisional assessment survived after a regular assessment had been made for the relevant period.

Analysis: The provisional assessment had been set aside on the ground that it was not a speaking order. No specific finding on the rate of tax was recorded while remanding the matter, and the subsequent regular assessment was not shown to be controlled by any binding finding in the remand order. Once a regular assessment came into existence, the validity of the earlier provisional assessment no longer called for examination, as the parties were to be governed by the outcome of the regular assessment proceedings.

Conclusion: The challenge to the provisional assessment had become academic and did not survive for adjudication.

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