TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (7) TMI 1929
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....he case, submitted that the reassessment notice issued u/s 148of the Act was beyond the limitation period in view of Judgment of Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Rajeev Bansal, Civil Appeal No. 8629 of 2024 dated 03/10/2024. The Ld. Counsel further submitted that, since the notice issued u/s 148 of the Act was barred by limitation, the consequential assessment proceedings will be vitiated, thus sought for allowing the above Appeals of the Assessee. 3. Per contra, the Ld. Departmental Representative submitted that the contention of the Assessee regarding the notice issued u/s 148 of the Act is barred by limitation does not have merit. Further submitted that, issuing of the notice and the initiation of re- assessment proceedings are well within the limitation, thus relying on the order of the Lower Authorities, sought for dismissal of the Appeal. 4. We have heard both the parties and perused the material available on record. In order to compute the limitation period to issue the notice u/s 148 of the Act as per the Judgment of Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Rajeev Bansal (supra), the details are mentioned as under :- Sr. No. Particulars Computation ....
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.... ten years, have elapsed from the end of the relevant assessment year unless the Assessing Officer has in his possession books of account or other documents or evidence which reveal that the income chargeable to tax, represented in the form of asset, which has escaped assessment amounts to or is likely to amount to fifty lakh rupees or more for that year: Provided that no notice under section 148 shall be issued at any time in a case for the relevant assessment year beginning on or before 1st day of April, 2021, if such notice could not have been issued at that time on account of being beyond the time limit specified under the provisions of clause (b) of sub- section (1) of this section, as they stood immediately before the commencement of the Finance Act, 2021: Provided further that the provisions of this sub-section shall not apply in a case, where a notice under section 153A, or section 153C read with section 153A, is required to be issued in relation to a search initiated under section 132 or books of account, other documents or any assets requisitioned under section 132A, on or before the 31st day of March, 2021: Provided also that for the purposes o....
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....four years have elapsed from the end of the relevant assessment year, unless the case falls under clause (b) or clause (c); (b) if four years, but not more than six years, have elapsed from the end of the relevant assessment year unless the income chargeable to tax which has escaped assessment amounts to or is likely to amount to one lakh rupees or more for that year; (c) if four years, but not more than sixteen years, have elapsed from the end of the relevant assessment year unless the income in relation to any asset (including financial interest in any entity) located outside India, chargeable to tax, has escaped assessment. Explanation .-- In determining income chargeable to tax which has escaped assessment for the purposes of this sub-section, the provisions of Explanation 2 of section 147 shall apply as they apply for the purposes of that section. (2) The provisions of sub- section (1) as to the issue of notice shall be subject to the provisions of section 151. (3) If the person on whom a notice under section 148 is to be served is a person treated as the agent of a non-resident under section 163 and the assessment, reassessment or recomputa....
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....gards the submission of the learned DR that the time period from the date of issuance of the deemed show cause notice till the date of filing of response by the assessee shall be excluded under the third proviso to section 149 of the Act, we find that the Hon'ble Supreme Court in paragraph-106 and 107 of its decision in Rajeev Bansal (supra), observed as follows: - "106. In Ashish Agarwal (supra), this Court directed the assessing officers to provide relevant information and materials relied upon by the Revenue to the assesses within thirty days from the date of the judgment. A show cause notice is effectively issued in terms of Section 148A(b) only if it is supplied along with the relevant information and material by the assessing officer. Due to the legal ITAs No.6140 & 6167/Mum/2024 (A.Ys. 2013- 14 & 2014-15) 11 fiction, the assessing officers were deemed to have been inhibited from acting in pursuance of the Section 148A(b) notice till the relevant material was supplied to the assesses. Therefore, the show cause notices were deemed to have been stayed until the assessing officers provided the relevant information or material to the assesses in terms of the directio....
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....ra) with the TOLA, in paragraph-108 of its judgment observed as follows: - "108. The Income Tax Act read with TOLA extended the time limit for issuing reassessment notices under Section 148, which fell for completion from 20 March 2020 to 31 March 2021, till 30 June 2021. All the reassessment notices under challenge in the present appeals were issued from 1 April 2021 to 30 June 2021 under the old regime. Ashish Agarwal (supra) deemed these reassessment notices under the old regime as show cause notices under the new regime with effect from the date of issuance of the reassessment notices. The effect of creating the legal fiction is that this Court has to imagine as real all the consequences and incidents that will inevitably flow from the fiction. 163 Therefore, the logical effect of the creation of the legal fiction by Ashish Agarwal (supra) is that the time surviving under the Income Tax Act read with TOLA will be available to the Revenue to complete the remaining proceedings in furtherance of the deemed notices, including issuance of reassessment notices under Section 148 of the new regime. The surviving or balance time limit can be calculated by computing the....
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.... 8 Assessee's Reply 24.06.2022 9 Order u/s 148A(d) 28.07.2022 10 Second Notice u/s 14828.07.2022 21. Therefore, computing the surviving/ balance time limit, as per the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Rajeev Bansal (supra), we find that the Revenue had only 2 days (i.e., between 29/06/2021 to 30/06/2021) to issue notice under section 148 of the Act of the new regime in the present case, i.e. till 26/06/2022, after receipt of the response from the assessee on 24/06/2022 to the show cause notice issued under section 148A(b) of the Act. However, undisputedly, in the present case, the notice under section 148 of the Act was issued on 28/07/2022, i.e., 32 days after the surviving/balance time period as per the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Rajeev Bansal (supra). 22. We find that even if the benefit of the fourth proviso to section 149 of the Act is granted to the Revenue, since the remaining period in the present case, after the exclusion of time period as provided in the third proviso to section 149, is less than 7 days, even then the notice dated 28/07/2022 under ITAs No.6140 & 6167/Mum/2024 (A.Ys. 201....
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.... to be passed on or before 12.07.2022. The fourth proviso to Section 149 of the Act did not come into play as the time period available for the AO to pass an order under Section 148A(d) of the Act was in excess of the seven days. 72. In view of the above, we find merit in Mr. Sehgal's contention that the impugned notice dated 30.07.2022 has been issued beyond the period of limitation. 73. The petition is accordingly allowed and the impugned order dated 30.07.2022 passed under Section 148A(d) of the Act; the impugned notice dated 30.07.2022 issued under Section 148 of the Act; and the assessment order dated 30.05.2023 framed under Section 147 of the Act pursuant to the notice dated 30.07.2022 for AY 2013-14, are set aside. Pending application is also disposed of." 24. Therefore, in view of the findings of the Hon'ble Delhi High Court in the decision cited supra, we do not find any merits in the aforesaid submission of the learned DR, and the reliance placed by the learned DR upon the decision of the SMC Bench of the Tribunal in PushpadeviShivlalRathi v/s ITO, in ITA No. 1995/Pun./2024, dated 04/ 12/2024 is also of no relevance. 25. Therefo....
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....of 2022 dated 05.01.2024 (DHC). iii. H And H Hennes And Mauritz Retail Private Ltd. Vs. ACIT, W.P.(C) 4848/2023 date 14.05.2025 (DHC). iv. Cadence Real Estates Put. Ltd. v. Income Tax Officer and Anr., W.P.(C) 482/2023, decided 24.04.2025 (DHC). v. AnkitaLokeshGoyal Vs. ITO, ITA No. 5408/Del/2024 dated 27.06.2025. 9. Per contra, the Ld. Assessee's Representative relying on the orders of the Lower Authorities, submitted that the prior approval of Competent Authority u/s 151 for issues of order u/s 148A(d) of the Act has been obtained in accordance with law and the assessment has been framed on its merits. Therefore, the contention of the Assessee cannot be upheld, thus sought for dismissal of the Appeals pertaining to Assessment Years 2016-17 and 2017-18. 10. We have heard both the parties and perused the material available on record. As could be seen from the record the notice u/s 148 of the Act was issued by the AO on 18/06/2021 and 16.6.2021 for Assessment Year 2016-17 and 2017-18 respectively. The Ld. A.O. in the assessment orders mentioned that, the assessment 'order has been passed with a prior approval of Pr. Commissioner of Income Tax....
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.... initiated after the expiry of three years from the end of the relevant AY. It is in the aforesaid context that the petitioner contends that the sanction accorded by the PCIT would not sustain. 5. In cases where reassessment is sought to be commenced after the lapse of three years from the end of the relevant AY, undisputedly, it would be the Principal Chief Commissioner who would be liable to be recognised as being the competent authority. Viewed in that light, it is apparent that the reassessment action would not sustain. 6. Dealing with an identical question, we had in Abhinav Jindal HUF v. Commissioner of Income Tax and Ors held as under :- "30. Tested on the principles which were enunciated in Suman Jeet Agarwal v. ITO [(2022) 449 ITR 517 (Delhi); 2022 SCC OnLine Del 3141], the petitioners would appear to be correct in their submission of the date liable to be ascribed to the impugned notices and those being viewed as having been issued and dispatched after April 1, 2021. However, and in our considered opinion, the same would be of little relevance or significance when one bears in mind the indubitable fact that all the notices were approved by the J....
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....and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act. 37. The Taxation and Other Laws ('Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act was thus concerned with overcoming the statutory closure and eclipse which would have otherwise descended upon the authority to act and take action under the specified statutes. It was essentially concerned with tiding over the insurmountable hurdles which arose due to the pandemic and the disruption that followed in its wake. The Taxation and Other Laws ("Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, viewed in that light, was neither aimed at nor designed or intended to confer a new jurisdiction or authority upon an officer under a specified enactment. On a fundamental plane, it was a remedial measure aimed at overcoming a position of irretrievable and irreversible consequences which were likely to befall during the nationwide lockdown. It was principally aimed at enabling authorities to take and commence action within the extended timelines that the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act introduced. However, it neither altered nor modified or amended the ITA No.5408/ Del/ 2024 9 distribution of fu....
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....ssessment year that approval could have been accorded by the Joint Commissioner of Income-tax. Similar would be the position which would emerge if the actions were tested on the basis of the amended section 151 and which divides the power of sanction amongst two sets of authorities based on whether reassessment is commenced within three years or thereafter. 40. What we seek to emphasise is that the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act authorisation merely enables the competent authority to take action within the extended time period and irrespective of the closure which would have ordinarily come about by virtue of the provisions contained in the Act. It does not alter or amend the structure for approval and sanction which stands erected by virtue of section 151. The Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions') Act merely extended the period within which action could have been initiated and which would have otherwise and ordinarily been governed and regulated by sections 148 and 149 of the Act. If the contention of the respondents were to be accepted it would amount to us virtually ignoring the date w....