Reassessment notices issued beyond the surviving limitation period under TOLA are invalid and time-barred.

The Petitioner challenged a reassessment notice issued under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (“the Act”), dated 31.07.2022, for Assessment Year (AY) 2017-2018

Originally, the Assessing Officer issued a notice on 11.06.2021 under the old regime during the period extended by the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Ordinance, 2020 (TOLA)

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling in Union of India v. Ashish Agarwal, this notice was deemed a show-cause notice under the new Section 148A(b)

The Revenue provided the required information to the assessee on 19.05.2022, and the Petitioner filed a reply on 01.06.2022

Subsequently, the Respondent issued an order under Section 148A(d) and the impugned notice under Section 148 on 31.07.2022

Whether the reassessment notice dated 31.07.2022 was issued within the "surviving time" period as mandated by the Supreme Court in Union of India v. Rajeev Bansal

The Court applied Sections 148 and 148A of the Income Tax Act, 1961, as amended by the Finance Act, 2021

It relied on the "surviving time" doctrine established by the Supreme Court in Union of India v. Rajeev Bansal (2024)

This doctrine mandates that Assessing Officers must issue reassessment notices under the new regime within the time limit surviving under the Act read with TOLA, excluding the period during which show-cause notices were deemed stayed (from the date of issuance of the deemed notice until the supply of information plus the two-week response period)

The Court also followed the coordinate bench decision in Dhanraj Govindram Kella v. ITO regarding the specific calculation of these limitation periods

The Court examined the timeline to determine if the notice was time-barred.

Under the framework of Ashish Agarwal and Rajeev Bansal, the limitation period is extended by the time taken to provide information and receive a response, but the final notice must still fall within the "surviving time" available after these exclusions

In the present case for AY 2017-2018, the Court calculated that the limitation for issuing the Section 148 notice expired on 20.06.2022

The Respondent issued the impugned notice on 31.07.2022, which the Court found to be approximately 40 days beyond the calculated deadline

The Respondent's counsel was unable to controvert the factual accuracy of these dates

The High Court quashed and set aside the impugned notice dated 31.07.2022, the underlying order passed under Section 148A(d), and all consequential proceedings. Rule was made absolute