Reassessment limitation under TOLA: notice issued after the surviving period was time-barred, with consequential proceedings quashed.

Reassessment limitation under the substituted regime was tested against the relaxation under the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020. For assessment year 2015-16, a reassessment notice issued on 16 April 2021 was found to fall outside the surviving limitation period, as the protected window under TOLA did not extend to that notice. Relying on the Supreme Court position in Rajeev Bansal and the Revenue's concession there, the reassessment initiation was treated as time-barred, and the consequential reassessment proceedings and assessment order were held unsustainable and quashed.

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Issues: Whether the reassessment notice issued for the assessment year 2015-16 was barred by limitation under the substituted reassessment regime, having regard to the relaxation granted under the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020, and whether the reassessment proceedings and consequent assessment order were liable to be quashed.

Analysis: The limitation controversy turned on the effect of the Supreme Court's ruling in Rajeev Bansal, read with the applicability of the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 to notices issued after 1 April 2021. The reassessment notice in this case was issued on 16 April 2021 for assessment year 2015-16. On the facts recorded, the period protected by the relaxation statute did not extend to such a notice, and the Revenue's own concession in the governing Supreme Court decision was treated as decisive. The reassessment initiation was therefore held to be beyond the surviving limitation period, making all consequential proceedings unsustainable.

Conclusion: The reassessment notice was held to be time-barred and the reassessment proceedings, including the assessment order, were quashed; the issue was decided in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The Revenue's challenge failed, and the allowance granted by the first appellate authority was upheld.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a reassessment notice for assessment year 2015-16 is issued after the limitation period surviving under the reassessment law as relaxed by TOLA, the notice is barred by limitation and all consequential reassessment actions are invalid.

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