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

The Assessing Officer issued a notice under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, on 7 June 2021 for AY 2013–14, relying on the extended limitation period under the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Ordinance, 2020 (“TOLA”).

Following *Union of India v. Ashish Agarwal*, the notice was treated as a show-cause notice under Section 148A(b).

The Assessing Officer supplied information on 25 May 2022 and allowed the petitioner until 15 June 2022 to respond; the petitioner replied on 21 and 25 June 2022.

The order under Section 148A(d) and the reassessment notice under Section 148 were issued on 29 August 2022.

The petitioner challenged the notice as time-barred.

Whether the notice under Section 148 issued on 29 August 2022 was barred by limitation because it was issued beyond the surviving time available under the Act read with TOLA and the directions in *Ashish Agarwal* and *Rajeev Bansal*.

Whether the consequential proceedings could survive if the reassessment notice was time-barred.

Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, read with TOLA, governed the applicable limitation period for reassessment notices issued during the relevant extended period.

Under *Union of India v. Ashish Agarwal*, certain notices issued under the former reassessment regime were to be treated as notices under Section 148A(b) of the amended Act.

Under *Union of India v. Rajeev Bansal*, the time during which the deemed show-cause notices were treated as stayed—including the period until the relevant information was supplied and the two weeks allowed for the assessee to respond—was to be excluded, but the reassessment notice under the new regime still had to be issued within the remaining “surviving time”; notices issued beyond that period are time-barred and liable to be set aside.

Applying *Rajeev Bansal* to the relevant dates, the Court held that the surviving limitation period for issuing the Section 148 notice expired on 19 July 2022.

The Assessing Officer’s notice, issued on 29 August 2022, was therefore beyond the permitted period.

The respondent’s counsel verified the dates and did not controvert them.

The notice was consequently invalid, and the order under Section 148A(d) and related proceedings could not stand.

It quashed and set aside that notice and all consequential proceedings, and made the rule absolute.