Fresh Assessment After CIT(A)’s Directions: Can Assessee Appeal Straight to ITAT?

B P Ravikumar Vs ITO (ITAT Bangalore)

Fresh Assessment After CIT(A)’s Directions: Can the Assessee Appeal Straight to the ITAT?

An assessee challenges an assessment before the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals). Following that appeal, the Assessing Officer (AO) passes a fresh assessment order. If the assessee remains aggrieved, can he appeal directly to the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal because the fresh order was passed pursuant to the CIT(A)’s directions?

The Bengaluru ITAT answered no in B P Ravikumar v. ITO. It held that an order made by the AO remains an AO’s order, even when it follows directions in an earlier appellate order. Since the fresh assessment in this case was not an order directly appealable to the ITAT under section 253, the Tribunal dismissed the appeal as not maintainable. It did not examine the additions on their merits.

How the case reached the Tribunal

For assessment year 2019–20, an assessment order was passed against B P Ravikumar on 20 March 2024 under section 147 read with section 144. He appealed to the CIT(A). As recorded in the ITAT’s order, the CIT(A) set aside that assessment and directed the AO to pass a fresh order.

The AO then passed a fresh assessment order on 6 March 2026, described as an order under section 147 read with sections 250 and 144. Ravikumar was dissatisfied with that order too. On 30 March 2026, he filed an appeal against it directly before the ITAT, without first appealing to the CIT(A) or other appropriate first appellate authority.