Pramod Lakra Vs Urvashi Sarees Pvt. Ltd. (ITAT Kolkata)
Whether reassessment notice for AY 2015-16 issued taking cognisance of TOLA after 1-4-2021 is barred by limitation?
Brief facts:
The Kolkata ITAT Benches in this case was dealing with a situation where the notice u/s 148 was issued after 1-4-2021 under the old law taking benefit of TOLA and after the judgement in the case of Union of India Vs Ashish Agarwal, the second notice was issued on 31-7-2022.
The assessee’s argument regarding the notice being barred by limitation were not upheld by 1st appellate authority. Before the ITAT it was argued that the Supreme Court in the case of Union of India Vs Rajeev Bansal (2024) 469 ITR 46(SC) had clearly held that notice u/s 148 issued directly on or after 1-4-2021 taking benefit of TOLA could be upheld only if the due date of compliance for taking any action was falling between 20th March 2020(being the date of onset of COVID ) to 31st March 2021 and not otherwise. As it was clear that the due date for issuing notice u/s 148 under the old law was 31st March 2022 which did not fell in between these dates, the notice was barred by limitation which had been accepted by department itself as recorded in the judgement.
