Section 153A Assessment Quashed as Notices Issued in Name of Deceased Assessee

Poonam Vs DCIT (ITAT Delhi) Pursuant to a search conducted in March 2019, the Assessing Officer issued a notice under section 153A on 20.01.2020 in the name of the assessee, who had already expired in September 2019. Although a fresh notice under section 153A was later issued in January 2021 in the name of the legal heir, the assessment order referred only to the first notice issued to the deceased and even a subsequent notice under section 142(1) was again issued in the deceased’s name. The Tribunal noted from the chronology of events that the assessment was effectively based on the invalid...