ITAT Quashes Reassessment Notices as Time-Barred under Section 148:

ITAT Quashes Reassessment Notices as Time-Barred under Section 148 The Department filed three appeals against orders of the CIT(A) for A.Ys. 2013-14 to 2015-16. The assessee raised a Rule 27 petition contending that the reassessment notices under Section 148 were time-barred. In A.Y. 2015-16, the original notice under Section 148 was issued on 13.04.2021 and later again on 18.07.2022. For A.Ys. 2013-14 and 2014-15, original notices were dated 30.06.2021. In view of Ashish Agarwal, notices under Section 148A(b) were issued in May/July 2022 and replies were filed on 14.07.2022.  The “surviving period” was nil; therefore, any fresh notice had to be issued on or before 14.07.2022. But notices dated 26.07.2022 and 27.07.2022 were out of time and under limitation. Issue Raised: Whether reassessment notices dated 18.07.2022 (A.Y. 2015-16), 26.07.2022 (A.Y. 2013-14) and 27.07.2022 (A.Y. 2014-15), were issued after the bar of limitation under Section 149 read with TOLA and Section 148A, respectively and were valid. ITAT's Decision: The Hon'ble ITAT dealt with three appeals filed by the Revenue against orders of the CIT(A) quashing reassessment proceedings initiated under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act for AYs 2013-14 to 2015-16. The Tribunal noted that the original notices under Section 148 had either expired or become invalid due to the limitation period prescribed under the law. Relying on rulings in Rajeev Bansal (2024) and Deepak Steel & Power Ltd. (2025), the tribunal held that all notices issued after 31.03.2022 for these years were time-barred. Since the impugned notices in this case were issued in July 2022, well after the permissible period, they were declared invalid.

Therefore, the Tribunal quashed not only the notices but also the reassessment orders flowing from them. It clarified that once jurisdiction itself fails on limitation, all subsequent proceedings become null. The Revenue’s appeals were dismissed as infructuous, and the assessee’s petition under Rule 27 of the ITAT Rules was allowed. The Tribunal emphasizing that limitation under Section 149 must be strictly applied and cannot be stretched by the Revenue.

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