Notice for reopening of assessment under Section 148 against dead person is invalid: ITAT

The assessee herein was a non-resident. She died on 01.10.2010. The information about her death along with the death certificate was submitted to the Assessing Officer vide letter dated 26.12.2014 as well as 23.02.2015. The Assessing Officer also acknowledges the receipt of the letter dated 26.12.2014 in letter F.No. DCIT/Intl. Tax/circle-1(1)(1)/2014-15 dated 30.01.2015. However, despite such fact being brought to the notice of the Assessing Officer, no notice was issued to the legal heir. All that he has done is that he has framed the impugned assessment dated 17.03.2015 in the name of legal heirs, Shri Vinod Dhingra. This apart, the notice under Section 143(2) dated 20.02.2015 was issued in the name of the deceased, i.e., Ms. Neelam Dhingra. A notice under Section 142(1) was similarly issued in the name of the deceased after her death. On these facts, it was contended that notice for reopening of assessment and continuation of reassessment proceedings thereafter was carried out in the name of the deceased person is invalid.

Ld. DR for the Revenue relied upon the order of the authorities below and could not controvert the factual position pointed out on behalf of the assessee.

As per ITAT it is trite that notice for reopening of assessment under Section 148 against dead person is invalid. The Assessing Officer has further accentuated the legal fallacy by continuing to proceed against the dead person by issuing notice under Section 143(2) and Section 142(1) of the Act. The re-assessment order passed pursuant to such invalid notices for the purposes of reopening the assessment and for assumption of jurisdiction for carrying out the assessment is thus apparently bad in law and has no legal sanctity.

As a result the re-assessment order was quashed by Income Tax Appellate Tribunal

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