TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (4) TMI 1351
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....out of India on office work for most of the time during the period. Therefore, it is submitted that due to the aforesaid circumstances the present appeals could not be filed within the prescribed limitation period. In support of the aforesaid submission, the assessee has also placed on record the copy of her passport. 3. We find that the reasons stated by the assessee for seeking condonation of delay fall within the parameters for grant of condonation laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Collector Land Acquisition, Anantnag Vs. MST Katiji and others: 1987 SCR (2) 387. It is well established that rules of procedure are handmaid of justice. When substantial justice and technical considerations are pitted against each other, the cause of substantial justice deserves to be preferred. In the present case, the assessee did not stand to benefit from the late filing of the appeal. In view of the above and having perused the affidavit, we are of the considered view that there exists sufficient cause for not filing the present appeals within the limitation period and therefore, we condone the delay in filing the appeals by the assessee and we proceed to decide the appeals....
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....the limitation period specified under section 149(1) of the Act, and thus, the re-assessment order passed under section 147 r.w. section 144B of the Act is void ab initio. 8. The brief facts of the case pertaining to this issue, as emanating from the record, are: The assessee is an individual and advocate by profession. For the year under consideration, the assessee did not file her return of income. Subsequently, on the basis of the information available on AIR/ITS, it was found that as per Form 26AS, the assessee received INR 52,22,917 as fees for professional services rendered for the year under consideration, however, the same was not disclosed as the return of income itself was not filed by the assessee. Accordingly, on the basis of the aforesaid information, the AO issued notice under section 148 of the Act on 29/06/2021. 9. Subsequently, in view of the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Union of India vs. Ashish Agarwal, reported in [2022] 444 ITR 1 (SC), original notice issued under section 148 on 29/06/2021 was deemed to be issued under section 148A(b) of the Act. Vide show cause notice dated 24/05/2022, the information and material relied upon by the Revenue w....
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....ions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court. Thus, the learned DR submitted that the notice dated 28/07/2022 issued under section 148 of the Act cannot be challenged on the ground of limitation, as the same was issued pursuant to the guidelines laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Ashish Agarwal (supra), which were not amended in the subsequent decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Rajeev Bansal (supra). The learned DR further submitted that as per the third proviso to section 149 of the Act, as amended by the Finance Act, 2021, the time period from the date of issuance of deemed show cause notice till the date of filing of response by the assessee shall be excluded for the purpose of computation of time limit for issuance of notice under section 148 of the Act. The learned DR submitted that as per the fourth proviso to section 149 of the Act if after exclusion of the aforesaid time period, the period of limitation available to the AO is less than 7 days, then such remaining period shall be extended to 7 days and the period of limitation under section 149 of the Act shall be deemed to be extended accordingly. Further, by referring to the provisions of section 148A(d) of the Act, the ....
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....cause notice issued under clause (b) of section 148A or the period during which the proceeding under section 148A is stayed by an order or injunction of any court, shall be excluded: Provided also that where immediately after the exclusion of the period referred to in the immediately preceding proviso, the period of limitation available to the Assessing Officer for passing an order under clause (d) of section 148A is less than seven days, such remaining period shall be extended to seven days and the period of limitation under this sub-section shall be deemed to be extended accordingly. Explanation - For the purposes of clause (b) of this sub-section, "asset" shall include immovable property, being land or building or both, shares and securities, loans and advances, deposits in bank account. (2) The provisions of sub-section (1) as to the issue of notice shall be subject to the provisions of section 151." 14. Therefore, from the plain reading of the provisions of Section 149 of the Act, it is evident that no notice under section 148 of the Act shall be issued after the expiry of 3 years from the end of the relevant assessment year, unless the case falls....
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....val of doubts, it is hereby clarified that the provisions of sub-sections (1) and (3), as amended by the Finance Act, 2012, shall also be applicable for any assessment year beginning on or before the 1st day of April, 2012." 16. From the plain reading of section 149 of the Act, prior to its amendment by the Finance Act, 2021, it is evident that the same provides period of 4 years, up to 6 years, and up to 16 years for issuance of notice under section 148 of the Act, provided the conditions laid down therein are satisfied. In the present case, it cannot be disputed that the time limit of 4 years from the end of the relevant assessment year, i.e., assessment year 2013-14, expired on 31/03/2018, and the period of 6 years from the end of the relevant assessment year expired on 31/03/2020. Therefore, in the present case, the time period covered under the provisions of the TOLA, i.e. from 20/03/2020 to 31/03/2021, only includes 30/03/2020, i.e., 6 years from the end of the relevant assessment year. It is evident from the record that the original notice under section 148 of the Act, which was deemed to be a notice issued under section 148A(b) of the Act pursuant to the decision of the ....
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....ter the supply of the relevant material and information to the assessee, time begins to run for the assesses to respond to the show cause notices. 107. The third proviso to Section 149 allows the exclusion of time allowed for the assesses to respond to the show cause notice under section 149A(b) to compute the period of limitation. The third proviso excludes "the time or extended time allowed to the assessee." Resultantly, the entire time allowed to the assessee to respond to the show cause notice has to be excluded for computing the period of limitation. In Ashish Agarwal (supra), this Court provided two weeks to the assesses to reply to the show cause notices. This period of two weeks is also liable to be excluded from the computation of limitation given the third proviso to Section 149. Hence, the total time that is excluded for computation of limitation for the deemed notices is: (i) the time during which the show cause notices were effectively stayed, that is, from the date of issuance of the deemed notice between 1 April 2021 and 30 June 2021 till the supply of relevant information or material by the assessing officers to the assesses in terms of the directions in As....
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....utation of the surviving or balance time limit, the Hon'ble Supreme Court in paragraph-112 of Rajeev Bansal (supra) observed as follows: - "112. Let us take the instance of a notice issued on 1 May 2021 under the old regime for a relevant assessment year. Because of the legal fiction, the deemed show cause notices will also come into effect from 1 May 2021. After accounting for all the exclusions, the assessing officer will have sixty-one days [days between 1 May 2021 and 30 June 2021] to issue a notice under Section 148 of the new regime. This time starts ticking for the assessing officer after receiving the response of the assessee. In this instance, if the assessee submits the response on 18 June 2022, the assessing officer will have sixty- one days from 18 June 2022 to issue a reassessment notice under Section 148 of the new regime. Thus, in this illustration, the time limit for issuance of a notice under Section 148 of the new regime will end on 18 August 2022." 20. Therefore, the surviving/balance time limit can be calculated by computing the number of days between the date of issuance of deemed notice and 30/06/2021. Since, in the present case, we find that the p....
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....ment of the Revenue was negated by the Hon'ble Delhi High Court in Ram Balram Buildhome (P.) Ltd. v/s Income-tax Officer, reported in [2025] 171 taxmann.com 99 (Delhi), by observing as follows: - "69. As noted above, by virtue of TOLA, the AO had period of twenty-nine days limitation left on the date of commencement of the reassessment proceedings, which began on 01.06.2021, to issue a notice under Section 148 of the Act. The said notice was required to be accompanied by an order under Section 148A(d) of the Act. Thus, the AO was required to pass an order under Section 148A(d) of the Act within the said twenty-nine days notwithstanding the time stipulated under Section 148A(d) of the Act. This period expired on 12.07.2022. 70. Since the period of limitation, as provided under Section 149(1) of the Act, had expired prior to issuance of the impugned notice on 30.07.2022. The said is squarely beyond the period of limitation. 71. It is contended on behalf of the Revenue that the AO is required to pass an order under Section 148A(d) of the Act by the end of the month following the month on which the reply to the notice under Section 148A(b) of the Act was rece....
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....passed under section 147 r.w. section 144B of the Act are also quashed. 26. Since the relief has been granted to the assessee on the aforenoted jurisdictional aspect, the other grounds raised by the assessee in the appeal are rendered academic, and therefore, are left open. 27. In the result, the appeal by the assessee for the assessment year 2013- 14 is allowed. 28. In its appeal for the assessment year 2014-15, the assessee has raised the following grounds: - "1. On the facts and circumstances of the case and in law, the learned Assessing Officer erred passing order u/s 147 of the Act. a. Notices absolutely time barred b. Presumption and surmises and c. Mechanically approved d. Without disposing objections well e. Based on reasons not recorded particularly in respect of the addition made f. No asset is found above Rs. 50 lacs g. Wrongly reopened by JAO instead of FAO h. Notice u/s 148 issued after 4 years i. No hearing granted u/s 148A j. No verification was done by JAO 2. On the facts and circumstances of the case and in law, the learned FAO erred in disallowing R....