Faceless tax assessment timing after DRP directions uploaded on ITBA portal; final order held time-barred u/s144C(13).

The dominant issue was whether the final assessment order passed u/s 143(3) r.w.s. 144(13) was time-barred under s. 144C(13). The Tribunal held that, in the faceless regime, uploading the DRP directions on the ITBA portal constitutes effective receipt/communication to the assessee and authorities; hence the AO's plea that relevant email communication was received later was legally irrelevant. As the DRP directions were uploaded on 28.06.2022, the final order dated 30.08.2022 exceeded the statutory period of one month from the end of that month, rendering it barred by limitation and void; the appeal was allowed.

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1. ISSUES PRESENTED AND CONSIDERED

(i) Whether the final assessment order was barred by limitation under section 144C(13) because it was not passed within one month from the end of the month in which the DRP directions were issued/communicated, where the DRP directions were uploaded on the ITBA portal on a specific date.

(ii) Whether the Assessing Officer could compute limitation with reference to a later date of receipt of DRP intimation through email within the tax administration, instead of the date of uploading of the DRP directions on the ITBA portal.

2. ISSUE-WISE DETAILED ANALYSIS

Issue (i) & (ii): Limitation for passing final order under section 144C(13) and relevance of ITBA upload date

Legal framework (as discussed and applied by the Tribunal): The Tribunal applied the statutory requirement in section 144C(13) that the final assessment order must be passed within the prescribed period of limitation, i.e., within one month from the end of the month in which the DRP's directions are issued/received, and examined how that date is to be determined in the faceless/ITBA-based regime.

Interpretation and reasoning: The Tribunal treated the uploading of the DRP directions on the ITBA portal as the operative event for communication/service in the faceless assessment framework. It noted that the DRP directions bore a DIN with a date corresponding to ITBA upload, and recorded that the DRP directions were uploaded on the ITBA portal on 28.06.2022. The Tribunal held that, once uploaded on ITBA (a core feature of the faceless regime), such uploading constitutes sufficient and valid communication to all concerned, including the assessee and the tax authorities. Consequently, any internal administrative receipt/forwarding through email at a later date could not extend or shift the statutory limitation period. The Tribunal therefore rejected the justification that limitation should run from the later email-receipt date in the office of the faceless assessment centre, holding that this contention was redundant once the ITBA upload date was established.

Conclusions: Since the DRP directions were uploaded on ITBA on 28.06.2022, the final assessment order was required to be passed by 31.07.2022 (one month from the end of June 2022). The final assessment order dated 30.08.2022 was thus time-barred under section 144C(13), declared bad in law, and quashed.

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