This judgment deals with the validity of reassessment notices ...

Tax reassessment notices issued under old regime treated as show-cause per SC order, balancing interests.

Case Laws     Income Tax

October 5, 2024

This judgment deals with the validity of reassessment notices issued u/s 148 of the Income Tax Act between July and September 2022, in light of the Tax Ordinance and the Supreme Court's decision in Ashish Agarwal. The key points are: The Court clarified that directions issued under Article 142 are not binding ratios but supplementary measures to achieve complete justice. It exercised this power in tax matters where Revenue actions were not per law. The Court deemed reassessment notices issued under the old regime between April 1 and June 30, 2021, as show-cause notices under the new regime in Ashish Agarwal, balancing assessee and Revenue rights and avoiding further appeals. The legal fiction created a deemed stay on proceedings till the Revenue supplied relevant information to assessees per the Court's directions. Exclusions apply for computing limitation u/s 149. After April 1, 2021, the Income Tax Act must be read with substituted provisions and the Tax Ordinance applies if actions fall between March 20, 2020, and March 31, 2021. Section 3(1) overrides Section 149 only for relaxing reassessment notice time limits. Reassessment notices under the new regime must be issued within the surviving time limit under the Act read with the Ordinance; notices beyond this.

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