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2022 (2) TMI 1148 - HC - Income TaxValidity of reopening of assessment u/s 147 - Scope of Section 148A as newly inserted - As argued notices are issued to a dead person and assessment period prior to 01.04.2021 notices issued after 2021 without following the procedure as provided under the substituted provisions for reassessment under the Income Tax Act, 1961 by the Finance Act, 2021 - Comparison between old and new provisions for reassessment - Individual identity of Section 148 as prevailing prior to amendment - applicability of the newly inserted provisions of Section 148A and the amendments brought inter alia w.e.f. 1.4.2021 HELD THAT:- In a recent Division Bench judgment of this Court in a similar circumstances has quashed the reassessment notice. In case of Sudesh Taneja Vs. ITO [2022 (1) TMI 1212 - RAJASTHAN HIGH COURT] held that under no circumstances the extended period available in clause (b) of sub-section (1) of Section 149 which we may recall now stands at 10 years instead of 6 years previously available with the revenue, can be pressed in service for reopening assessments for the past period. This flows from the plain meaning of the first proviso to sub-section (1) of Section 149. In plain terms a notice which had become time barred prior to 01.04.2021 as per the then prevailing provisions, would not be revived by virtue of the application of Section 149(1)(b) effective from 01.04.2021. All the notices issued in the present cases are after 01.04.2021 and have been issued without following the procedure contained in Section 148A of the Act and are therefore invalid. By virtue of notifications dated 31.03.2021 and 01.04.2021 issued by CBDT substitution of reassessment provisions framed under the Finance Act, 2021 were not deferred nor could they have been deferred. The date of such amendments coming into effect remained 01.04.2021. In the result we find that the notices impugned in the respective petitions are invalid and bad in law. The same are quashed and set aside. The learned Single Judge committed no error in quashing these notices. All the writ petitions are allowed. Appeals of the revenue are dismissed.
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