No section 148 Notice can be Issued before expiry of Period For Issuing Section 143(2) Notice

Uttrakhand Poorv Sainik Kalyan Nigam Ltd. Vs ITO (ITAT Dehradun)

Recently the Circuit Bench Of Dehradun Income Tax Appellate Tribunal passed an judgement in the above case examining the validity of assumption of jurisdiction by Ld. AO. The central point of discussion was whether AO was right in issuing notice u/s 148 to the assessee even when the due date for filing the return of income is available in terms of section 139(4).

Issue:-

Assessee is a company who’s main motive is to provide employment to ex- serviceman and their dependencies for their welfare and thus claiming exemption u/s 10(26BBB). The assessee did not filed its return of income for the AY 2014-15 as per the time limit specified u/s 139(1) but filed its return of income on 06.10.2015 well within the time limit specified u/s 139(4) i.e. 31.03.2016. The Ld. AO after the expiry of the time limit u/s 139(1) issued a notice u/s 148 that an income has escaped the assessment on 22.01.2015 without the approval of higher authorities. The assessee filed an appeal on the grounds that the proceedings initiated u/s 147 and notice issued u/s 148 is also bad in law as time limit of filing return u/s 139(4) has not lapsed and no approval of higher authorities was taken.

Analysis of Order passed by the ITAT :-

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