Reassessment notice time bar applied using surviving time doctrine; notice quashed for being issued beyond the permissible period.

Whether a reassessment notice issued after the TOLA suspension period is time barred was decided by applying the surviving time calculation derived from Ashish Agarwal and Rajeev Bansal to notices transitioned into the post TOLA reassessment regime. The court treated the original issuance under the TOLA period as governed by the reassessment pre conditions and applied the surviving time test to the sequence of information supply, assessee reply deadlines, the section 148A(d) order and the subsequent notice. Applying those dates showed the last permissible date expired before issuance; accordingly the reassessment notice and the section 148A(d) order and consequential proceedings were quashed as time barred.

---

---

Issues: Whether the notice dated 30.08.2022 issued under section 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 for Assessment Year 2016-2017 is invalid and time barred as being issued beyond the 'surviving time' pursuant to the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Ordinance, 2020 and the decisions in Union of India v. Ashish Agarwal and Union of India v. Rajeev Bansal.

Analysis: The notice under section 148 was originally issued under the TOLA period and is to be treated under section 148A(b) following the Apex Court's decision in Ashish Agarwal. The applicable test is whether the reassessment notice under the new regime was issued within the time surviving from the date of issuance under TOLA up to 30.06.2021 as explained in Rajeev Bansal. Relevant dates include supply of information by the Assessing Officer (27.07.2022), the assessee's reply deadline (18.08.2022), the assessee's filed reply (11.08.2022), the order under section 148A(d) (29.08.2022) and the reassessment notice (30.08.2022). Applying the surviving time calculation as per Rajeev Bansal and the facts and dates in this case shows that the last permissible date for issuing the reassessment notice was 25.08.2022; the impugned notice was issued after that date.

Conclusion: The notice dated 30.08.2022 issued under section 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 is invalid and time barred as it was issued beyond the surviving time and is quashed. The order dated 29.08.2022 under section 148A(d) and all consequential proceedings are quashed and set aside.

---