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TMI Blog2025 (4) TMI 1567X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 'TOLA'). However, the assessee failed to make any compliance to the said notice. Thereafter, the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer passed the order u/s 148A(d) of the Act on 18.07.2022 which was duly served upon the assessee. As per the said notice the assessee was required to deliver within 30 days from the service of the notice a return in the prescribed form for the said assessment year which was not done. Since the assessee did not respond to the said notice, the Assessing Officer proceeded to complete the assessment u/s 144 of the Act. Since the assessee failed to explain the source of the cash deposit of Rs. 2,05,80,344/-, the Assessing Officer, invoking the provisions of section 69 r.w.s. 115BBE of the Act, made addition of the same to the returned income as unexplained investment. 3. Before the Ld. CIT(A) / NFAC the assessee apart from challenging the addition on merit, challenged the validity of re-assessment proceedings. However, the Ld. CIT(A) / NFAC was not satisfied with the arguments advanced by the assessee and dismissed the appeal. 4. Aggrieved with such order of the Ld.CIT(A) / NFAC, the assessee is in appeal before the Tribunal by raising the following grounds: ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... India vs. Rajeev Bansal (supra), he submitted that as per the said decision the due date of issuing notice u/s 148 of the Act for assessment year 2015-16 in the instant case is 31.03.2021. Referring to the said decision, he drew the attention of the Bench to para 19 of the order and submitted that the Revenue in that case has conceded that for the assessment year 2015-16, all notices issued on or after 1st April 2021 will have to be dropped as they will not fall for completion during the period prescribed under TOLA. He submitted that the second notice issued by the JAO u/s 148A(d) is 18.07.2022. Referring to the decision of Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Union of India vs. Rajeev Bansal (supra), he submitted that as per the said order, the due date for issue of notice is 31.03.2022. Therefore, the second notice is also beyond the statutory period. He further drew the attention of the Bench to para 46 of the order of Hon'ble Supreme Court cited (supra) which reads as under: "46. The ingredients of the proviso could be broken down for analysis as follows: (i) no notice under Section 148 of the new regime can be issued at any time for an assessment year beginning o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e completed or complied with within the original time limits specified under the Income Tax Act; b. Section 149 of the new regime provides three crucial benefits to the assesses: (i) the four-year time limit for all situations has been reduced to three years; (ii) the first proviso to Section 149 ensures that re-assessment for previous assessment years cannot be undertaken beyond six years; and (iii) the monetary threshold of Rupees fifty lakhs will apply to the re- assessment for previous assessment years; c. The relaxations provided under Section 3(1) of TOLA apply "notwithstanding anything contained in the specified Act." Section 3(1), therefore, overrides the time limits for issuing a notice under Section 148 read with Section 149 of the Income Tax Act; d. TOLA does not extend the life of the old regime. It merely provides a relaxation for the completion or compliance of actions following the procedure laid down under the new regime; e. The Finance Act 2021 substituted the old regime for re-assessment with a new regime. The first proviso to Section 149 does not expressly bar the application of TOLA. Section 3 of TOLA applies to the entire Income Tax Act, PART C includin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of the new regime for assessment year 2021-2022 and before only if the time limit for issuance of such notice continued to exist under Section 149(1)(b) of the old regime." 12. Finally, the Hon'ble Supreme Court at para 114 of the order has observed as under: "G. Conclusions 114. In view of the above discussion, we conclude that: a. After 1 April 2021, the Income Tax Act has to be read along with the substituted provisions; b. TOLA will continue to apply to the Income Tax Act after 1 April 2021 if any action or proceeding specified under the substituted provisions of the Income Tax Act falls for completion between 20 March 2020 and 31 March 2021; c. Section 3(1) of TOLA overrides Section 149 of the Income Tax Act only to the extent of relaxing the time limit for issuance of a reassessment notice under Section 148; d. TOLA will extend the time limit for the grant of sanction by the authority specified under Section 151. The test to determine whether TOLA will apply to Section 151 of the new regime is this: if the time limit of three years from the end of an assessment year falls between 20 March 2020 and 31 March 2021, then the specified authority under Section 151(i) ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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