Reassessment notice limitation under the new regime: notice issued beyond the surviving time limit was held time-barred and invalid.

A reassessment notice under the substituted section 148 regime must be issued within the surviving limitation period after accounting for the earlier deemed notice under section 148A(b) and the time allowed for compliance. Applying that transitional computation, the notice issued on 28.07.2022 and the section 148A(d) order passed on 27.07.2022 were both beyond the available time. The notice was therefore time-barred, and the reassessment proceedings were invalid and liable to be quashed.

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Issues: Whether the notice under section 148 issued on 28.07.2022 and the reassessment proceedings founded on it were barred by limitation in view of the substituted reassessment regime, the deemed notice mechanism, and the surviving limitation period.

Analysis: The original notice under the unamended regime had been issued on 25.06.2021 and was treated as a deemed notice under section 148A(b). The later information was supplied on 26.05.2022 and time was granted upto 20.06.2022 for reply. Applying the binding principle on computation of the surviving limitation period, the fresh notice under section 148 had to be issued within the time still available after excluding the period covered by the earlier notice and the time allowed for compliance. Since the order under section 148A(d) was passed on 27.07.2022 and the notice under section 148 was issued on 28.07.2022, both were beyond the surviving limitation period.

Conclusion: The notice under section 148 was time-barred and the reassessment proceedings were invalid and liable to be quashed.

Ratio Decidendi: A reassessment notice under the new regime must be issued within the surviving limitation period computed in accordance with the earlier deemed notice and the time excluded by the applicable transitional framework; a notice issued beyond that period is void and the reassessment is liable to be quashed.

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