Reassessment limitation under the new section 148A regime barred notices for assessment year 2015-16 after the COVID extension period.

Reassessment notices under the substituted section 148A/148 regime for assessment year 2015-16 were treated as time-barred because notices issued on or after 1 April 2021 could not survive under the limitation framework, as read with the COVID-era relaxation and binding Supreme Court precedent. The court applied the later reassessment scheme and the recorded concession that such notices for that year had to be dropped, and held that the reassessment action initiated against the taxpayer was beyond time. The section 148A(d) order, consequential section 148 notice, and show cause notice were therefore set aside as barred by limitation.

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Issues: Whether the order under section 148A(d), the consequential notice under section 148, and the show cause notice were barred by limitation for assessment year 2015-16 in view of the law governing reassessment and the relaxation granted under the relevant COVID-era extension regime.

Analysis: The reassessment notice had to conform to the substituted scheme introduced by the Finance Act, 2021 and to the limitation framework applicable after the Supreme Court's rulings on reassessment. The Court applied the binding position that for assessment year 2015-16, notices issued on or after 1 April 2021 could not survive in the extended timeline contemplated under the relaxation framework, and relied on the concession recorded in the later Supreme Court decision that such notices for that year had to be dropped. On that basis, the reassessment action initiated against the petitioner was beyond time.

Conclusion: The challenge succeeded. The reassessment order under section 148A(d), the consequential notice under section 148, and the show cause notice were held to be barred by limitation and were set aside.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the applicable limitation regime, as construed by binding precedent and the relaxation provisions, does not permit reassessment notices for the relevant assessment year, any reassessment order or notice issued beyond that period is void and liable to be quashed.

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