Limitation on reassessment notices: notice for AY 2015-16 issued after 31.03.2022 could not sustain the reassessment.

For Assessment Year 2015-16, a reassessment notice issued under section 148 on 04.04.2022 was treated as barred by limitation because it was issued after 31.03.2022, the outer time limit under the first proviso to section 149(1)(b) of the Income-tax Act, 1961. Applying Union of India v. Rajeev Bansal, as reiterated in ITO v. Sai Kumar Mateti, and following coordinate Bench decisions, the notice was held incapable of sustaining reassessment. The reassessment framed on that notice was therefore invalid.

---

---

Issues: Whether the reassessment notice issued under section 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 on 04.04.2022 for Assessment Year 2015-16 was barred by limitation under the first proviso to section 149(1)(b), and whether the reassessment framed on that notice was invalid.

Analysis: The notice was issued after 31.03.2022, i.e. beyond the outer time limit applicable to Assessment Year 2015-16. The decision of the Supreme Court in Union of India v. Rajeev Bansal, as reiterated in ITO v. Sai Kumar Mateti, was treated as governing the issue, and the coordinate Bench decisions following the same principle were applied. On that basis, the notice was held to be time-barred and incapable of sustaining the reassessment.

Conclusion: The reassessment notice was invalid as being time-barred, and the assessment founded on it was also invalid.

Ratio Decidendi: For Assessment Year 2015-16, reassessment notices issued after 31.03.2022 are barred by limitation under the first proviso to section 149(1)(b) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 and cannot sustain the reassessment.

---