The article is written by CA Deepak Gadgil, who is into direct and indirect tax litigation and advisory from past 10 years. The article discusses the important points & dates for consideration after Supreme Court’s decision in case of UOI Versus Rajeev Bansal.
Table of Contents
We are aware that on 3rd October 2024, Honorable Supreme Court delivered an important
decision in the field of Taxation on the subject of Reassessment under Income Tax Act.
Issue Involved – Rajeev Bansal Case
Core issue involved in this case, for which the department took up / escalated the matter up to
Apex Court was, “Whether TOLA has any applicability or bearing on the Income Tax Act, as
it stood after various amendments were introduced into it by Finance Act 2021” & the Apex
Court after making elaborate discussion on the same, has concluded / decided the issue in favor
of the department.
Therefore, as a consequence of the same, it is now settled that all those notices for AY 2013-14
to AY 2018-19, issued between the period from 01.04.2021 to 31.06.2021 will be treated as valid
notices subject to some conditions.
While doing so, The Apex Court has introduced a new concept called “Surviving Period” & has
clearly stated that if the notice has been issued on a date which comes after Surviving Period
then the same will be time barred.
There are other interesting issues too that need a careful consideration like sanctions & approval
after the ratio laid down by this judgement.
After going through the decision carefully, and studying the material available on the same in
public domain, it can be seen that there could be certain cases where the assessee is placed at
advantage & can take benefit of the ratio laid down in this judgement
Broad Scenarios
Some broad scenarios emerge now which could be as follows –
Scenario A – where re-assessment order has been already passed raising demand of tax +
interest & the assessee has chosen to quietly pay the same
Scenario B – where reassessment order is passed, demand is raised, an appeal has been
preferred with CIT-A against the said order & the same is pending till date either for
hearing or for order to be passed
Scenario C – where reassessment order is passed, demand is raised, an appeal has been
preferred with CIT-A against the said order & CIT-A too has decided the case against
assessee, and the assessee has preferred appeal in ITAT & case is pending @ ITAT
Scenario D – where ITAT has passed the order in favor of department
In my humble view in each and every such case one needs to go through the facts & issues
involved and ponder over, whether the ratio laid down by the Rajeev Bansal case can be
applied to it & can be utilized to ones advantage, & if so, how to do it.
Read More: Analysis Of Canon Judgement Review By Supreme Court
