Mohd. Shoaib UR Rahman Vs ITO (ITAT Hyderabad)
Reassessment Quashed Because Section 148 Notice Was Issued by Jurisdictional Assessment Officer (JAO) Instead of Faceless Assessment Officer (FAO)
The Hyderabad Bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) considered an appeal filed by the assessee against the order of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), National Faceless Appeal Centre, dated 17 July 2025. The appeal arose from an assessment order passed by the Assessing Officer under Section 147 read with Section 144B of the Income-tax Act, 1961 on 24 February 2024 for Assessment Year 2015–16. The assessee challenged the validity of the reassessment proceedings, the notice issued under Sections 148 and 148A, and the addition of ₹1,33,40,906 made under Section 69A as unexplained money.
The reassessment proceedings were initiated based on information flagged through the Risk Management Strategy formulated by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) under the ITBA software under “NMS cases”. The information indicated that the assessee had undertaken substantial financial transactions during the relevant year, including purchase and sale of equity shares and cash deposits in a bank account, but had not filed a return of income. On this basis, proceedings under Section 148A were initiated. The Jurisdictional Assessing Officer (JAO) passed an order under Section 148A(d) on 7 April 2022 and issued a notice under Section 148 on the same date. The assessee subsequently filed a return declaring income of ₹1,69,136.
