TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (10) TMI 1904
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.... Assessee u/s 147 of the Income Tax Act, 1961. 2. Notice Under Section 148 has been issued by JAO ( Jurisdictional Assessing Officer ) instead of FAO ( Faceless Assessing Officer ), therefore, assessment completed u/s 147 of the Act is illegal and void-ab- initio 3. On the facts and circumstances and in law, Ld Lower Authorities grossly erred in making and confirming disallowance of deduction of Rs 4,00,000/- u/s 80GGC claimed by the assessee. 4. On the facts and circumstances and in law also, Ld Lower Authorities further erred in disallowing deduction u/s 80GGC claimed by the assessee on the basis of third party general statements without providing opportunity to cross-examination. 5. On the facts and circumstances and in law, the Ld Lower Authorities further erred in disallowing deduction u/s 80GGC claimed by the assessee without providing copy of statements of third parties on which assessing office has relied upon. 6. That the Assessee craves your indulgence to add/alter/amend/'delete any or all' grounds of appeal. 3. The relevant facts, as recorded in the assessment order, are that the assessee is an individual who filed his orig....
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....sessee furnished donation receipts and bank statements. By his further response dated 17.07.2024, he explained that the donation had been paid in three parts and supplied the bank statement containing all three entries. 7. Before the Assessing Officer, the assessee maintained that the donation was genuine, had been made through NEFT/RTGS to a political party registered with the Election Commission of India, and that no amount had been returned to him. He also objected to the reopening, alleging that the information was vague and that proper enquiry had not been conducted. The reply reproduced in the assessment order referred to an alleged incorrect mention of a donation of Rs. 2,00,000/- in the section 148A(b) notice, whereas the assessee stated that the actual donation was Rs. 4,00,000/-. He requested a copy of the approval obtained from the specified authority and a copy of the third-party confirmation statement, if any, in which his name appeared. 8. The Assessing Officer rejected the objections, stating that the information on which the case was reopened had already been supplied with the notice under section 148A(b) and that the order under section 148A(d) had been passe....
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....ssessing Officer had acted solely on the information received through the Insight Portal, without conducting independent verification or establishing the applicability of such information to the facts of the assessee's case. According to the learned AR, the reopening was based on assumptions, presumptions and borrowed satisfaction, rather than an independent examination of the information by the Assessing Officer in relation to the assessee. 12. The learned Departmental Representative relied upon the orders of the Assessing Officer and the CIT(A) and supported the reassessment. 13. We have considered the rival submissions and perused the material available on record. The preliminary issue requiring determination is whether the notice under section 148 dated 24.04.2023 was issued within the period permitted by section 149 of the Act. The assessee's first ground challenges the initiation of reassessment, and the limitation objection was expressly raised before the CIT(A) and reiterated before us. Since this issue concerns the validity of the notice on which the reassessment rests, we take it up first. 14. For assessment year 2019-20, the relevant assessment year ended on 31.....
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....onth time contemplated under Section 148A(d). 18. The said contention is fundamentally misconceived. A notice under Section 148 of the IT Act accompanied by an order under Section 148A(d) is required to be issued within the time stipulated under Section 149 of the IT Act. Section 148A(d) does not govern the computation of time as contemplated in terms of Section 149 of the IT Act. The entire process under Section 148A(a) to (d) and the issuance of notice under Section 148 has to be completed within the total time available in terms of Section 149(1) of the IT Act for issuance of notice under Section 148. A notice issued under Section 148 of the IT Act which is beyond the time line stipulated under Section 149(1) is non-complaint and invalid. The timeline under Section 148A(d) is for the Assessing Officer to comply with the stipulations and the streamlining contemplated under Section148A. This is primarily to bring in transparency and accountability into the system and is intended for the benefit of the assessee's. However to suggest that Section 148A(d) extends the time limit under Section 149(1)and/or has a bearing on the time under Section 149(1) is a submission which is misco....
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....n 149. Consequently, the passing of the order under section 148A(d) during April 2023 cannot, by itself, establish that the notice under section 148 issued on 24.04.2023 was within limitation. 21. We further find that the CIT(A)'s conclusion on limitation proceeds upon an incorrect identification of the notice. In paragraphs 7.4 and 7.5 of the appellate order, the CIT(A) treated 29.03.2023 as the date of the notice under section 148. However, that date pertains to the preliminary show-cause notice under section 148A(b). The assessment order expressly records that the order under section 148A(d) was passed and the notice under section 148 was issued on 24.04.2023. Paragraph 3.3 of the CIT(A)'s own order also records this chronology. The finding that the notice under section 148 was issued on 29.03.2023 and was consequently within limitation is, therefore, factually unsustainable. Issuance of the preliminary notice within the ordinary three-year period did not dispense with the requirement to issue the subsequent notice under section 148 within the limitation computed after the applicable statutory exclusions and extension. 22. The reference in the lower orders to prior approva....