Kuppusamy Tharmaraj Pakkirisamy Vs The Income Tax Officer (ITAT, Chennai)
A Notice to the Dead Cannot Bring Reassessment to Life: Chennai ITAT Buries Proceedings Initiated u/s 148 Against Deceased Assessee
The Chennai ITAT held that a notice issued u/s 148 in the name of an assessee who had died several years earlier was void ab initio. Neither the participation of one legal heir nor the subsequent mention of his name beneath that of the deceased could cure this fundamental jurisdictional defect. Consequently, the reassessment order passed u/s 144 r.w.s. 147 was quashed.
Late Smt. T. Arumaikannu had sold a property on 02.08.2010 for ₹4,90,000, as against its stamp-duty value of ₹17,69,000. According to the legal heir, the property was agricultural land, purchased in 1982 for ₹20,000, and did not constitute a “capital asset” u/s 2(14). As the deceased had no taxable income, no return was filed for AY 2011-12.
The assessee died on 02.05.2013. However, nearly five years after her death, the AO issued notice u/s 148 on 28.03.2018 in her name. When there was no response, notices u/s 142(1) and show-cause notices proposing best-judgment assessment were issued. Eventually, the AO passed an order u/s 144 r.w.s. 147, adopting the stamp-duty value of ₹17,69,000 u/s 50C and assessing long-term capital gain of ₹16,11,843.
