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COMPANIES ACTissued in the name »of dead

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SERVICE is illegal-High Court
EXCISE/CUSTOM GST JUDGMENTS »
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Income tax notice issued in the name of dead person is illegal, Revenue can
nor plead ignorance – HC

Income tax notice issued in the name of dead

person is illegal, Revenue can nor plead
ignorance – HC
 administrator |  June 24, 2018 |  High Courts, Income Tax |  No Comments

Income tax notice issued

in the name of dead
person is illegal. Revenue
can nor plead ignorance as Email Updates Enter Email to Subscrib
there is no provision
Go
requiting legal
25 Male
representative to to Search Post By Date
No
intimate death or cancel
PAN– High Court July 2019
Rs. 547
M T W T F S S
The instant Writ Petition was
filed by the appellant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
assessee seeking quashing
of the notice issued in the name of a dead person under section 148 of the 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Income Tax Act, 1961 (the Act) as illegal and forbear the Assessing Officer 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
(AO) from conducting any proceedings for reassessment.
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
ABCAUS Case Law Citation:
29 30 31
ABCAUS 2381 (2018) 06 HC
« Jun
Important Case Laws Cited/relied upon by the parties:
CIT Vs. Amarchand N.Shroff [reported in AIR 1963 SC 1448 
https://abcaus.in/income-tax/income-tax-notice-issued-in-the-name-of-dead-person-illegal.html 1/6
 7/25/2019
Shaikh Abdul Kadar Vs. ITO AIRINCOME
HOME TAXIncome
1959 M.P. 101 tax notice
COMPANIES ACTissued in the name »of dead
DOWNLOADS person TAX
SERVICE is illegal-High Court
EXCISE/CUSTOM GST JUDGMENTS » CA CS

Mrs. Kesar Devi Vs. CIT [2010

HOME (321) ITR
INCOME 341(Raj.)
TAX COMPANIES ACT DOWNLOADS » SERVICE TAX EXCISE/CUSTOM GST JUDGMENTS » CA CS
Vipin Walia Vs. ITO [reported in (2016) 382 ITR 19]
Rasid Lala Vs. ITO [Special Leave Application No.18987 of 2016 dated
29.11.2016]
Sky Light Hospitality LLP Vs. AC (CT) [reported in (2018) 90 Taxmann.Com
413]
Spice Entertainment Ltd. Vs. CST [reported in (2011) SCC Online Del. 3210]

The petitioner was the wife of the of the assessee who had died. The petitioner
received a notice u/s 148 of the Act addressed to her late husband stating that
certain income of her late husband had escaped assessment and that the AO
proposed to re-assess the income for the relevant assessment year.

The petitioner sent a reply pointing out that her husband had died and enclosed
a copy of the death certificate to establish the said fact. As claimed by the
petitioner she was a home maker and was living with the support of her two
daughters along with mother in law.

The Petitioner alleged that she received frequent telephone calls from the
Income Tax Office calling upon her to appear before the AO in respect of the
said notice issued in the name of her late husband under Section 148 of the
Act. According to the petitioner, she was repeatedly harassed by the telephone
calls in spite of her clarification. Though he had specifically stated that she was
not aware of any of her husband’s business activities, she was directed to
appear for an enquiry.

On her visit to the office of the AO, the petitioner was asked to submit all the
documents pertaining to her husband’s assessment including the details of
bank account statements. The petitioner, in turn, informed the officer that she
did not have any of the documents, which were sought for.

In this background, the petitioner had filed the instant writ petition challenging
the impugned notice.

It was submitted that the impugned notice was void and unenforceable in law,
as it had been issued to a dead person. It was claimed that the defect in issuing
the notice in the name of a dead person goes to the root of the exercise of
jurisdiction under Section 147 of the Act and that the notice under Section 148
of the Act was , therefore, a nullity.

It was pointed out that income tax assessment can not be made in the name of
a dead person and that the observations made by the Hon’ble Supreme Court
will equally apply to the notices issued under Section 148 of the Act. It was also
contended that the wife of the deceased to whom, the notice under Section 148
of the Act was issued, cannot be made liable to participate in the re-
assessment proceedings.

The Petitioner, placing reliance on judgments of Hon’ble Supreme Court and

various Hon’ble High Courts, submitted that the impugned notice was liable to 
be https://abcaus.in/income-tax/income-tax-notice-issued-in-the-name-of-dead-person-illegal.html
quashed. It was further submitted that the defect was not curable and that 2/6
the7/25/2019
Revenue cannot place reliance
HOME onTAX
INCOME Income
Section tax notice
292B
COMPANIES issued
of
ACT the inAct
the name
DOWNLOADS of dead
in support
»
person
of TAX
SERVICE is illegal-High Court
EXCISE/CUSTOM GST JUDGMENTS » CA CS

their stand, as the said provision had noTAX

HOME INCOME applicability
COMPANIESto the DOWNLOADS
ACT facts of this»case. SERVICE TAX EXCISE/CUSTOM GST JUDGMENTS » CA CS

On the other hand, the Revenue submitted that the factum of death was not
reported by the petitioner to the Department and that the PAN registration in the
name of the dead person had not been cancelled. Therefore, the Department
was fully justified in issuing the notice in the name of the deceased assessee
and that the notice, having been issued before the end of the period of
limitation was valid in the eye of law.

It was further submitted that the Department, after having knowledge of the
death of the assessee, as intimated by the petitioner, issued notice to the
petitioner and directed her to produce the documents and to cooperate in the
reopening proceedings. It was also submitted that there was no defect in the
issuance of the notice and in any event, even assuming without conceding that
the notice was defective, the same was a curable defect, which was cured by
the issue of the proceedings in the name of the writ petitioner in her capacity as
the legal heir of the deceased. It was submitted that the impugned notice under
Section 148 of the Act was issued within the period of limitation and thereafter,
on coming to know of the death of the assessee, the impugned proceedings
continued in the name of the legal heirs by issuing the notice under Section 142
as contemplated under the Act.

The Revenue also relied upon the decision of the High Court of Delhi which
held that the notice issued was a nullity and that errors and mistakes can be
corrected.

The Hon’ble High Court observed that the settled legal principle is that a notice
issued in the name of the dead person is unenforceable in law. Therefore, the
Revenue was not justified in contending that they, having no knowledge about
the death of the assessee, were entitled to plead that the notice was not
defective.

The Hon’ble High Court observed that the limitation period for issuance of
notice for reopening expired one day after the issuance of the impugned notice
in the name of the dead person. On being intimated about the death, the
Department sent the notice to the petitioner – his spouse to participate in the
proceedings. This notice was well beyond the period of limitation, as it had
been issued after the expiry of the limitation period.

The Hon’ble High Court opined that merely because the Department was not
intimated about the death of the assessee, that cannot, by itself, extend the
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The Hon’ble High Court also ruled out the applicability of Section 159 of the Act
as the proceedings under Section 159 of the Act can be invoked only if the Excel Form 10E-Salary Arrears Relief  79
proceedings have already been initiated when the assessee was alive and was calculator AY … 
permitted for the proceedings to be continued as against the legal heirs.
https://abcaus.in/income-tax/income-tax-notice-issued-in-the-name-of-dead-person-illegal.html February 13, 2019 3/6
 7/25/2019
Further, on the Revenue’sHOME
standINCOME
that the Income
TAXcase tax notice
was
COMPANIES issued
covered
ACT in the name
under
DOWNLOADS of dead
Section
» 292person TAX
SERVICE is illegal-High Court
EXCISE/CUSTOM GST JUDGMENTS » CA CS

of the Act and the defect wasINCOME

HOME a curable defect and
TAX COMPANIES ACT on that ground,
DOWNLOADS » the TAX EXCISE/CUSTOM GST JUDGMENTS »
SERVICE CA CS
impugned notice cannot be declared as invalid, the Hon’ble High Court
observed that the language employed in Section 292 of the Act is categorical
and clear. The notice has to be, in substance and effect, in conformity with or
according to the intent and purpose of the Act. The issue relating to limitation is Status of Petition filed in  60
High Courts …
not a curable defect for the Revenue to invoke Section 292B of the Act.
December 29, 2018
It was held that the impugned notice was wholly without jurisdiction and could
not be enforced against the petitioner.
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 7/25/2019 HOME INCOME TAXIncome tax notice
COMPANIES ACTissued in the name »of dead
DOWNLOADS person TAX
SERVICE is illegal-High Court
EXCISE/CUSTOM GST JUDGMENTS » CA CS

HOME INCOME TAX COMPANIES ACT DOWNLOADS » SERVICE TAX EXCISE/CUSTOM GST JUDGMENTS » CA CS
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7/25/2019Copyright © 2019.
Abcaus HOME INCOME TAXIncome tax notice
COMPANIES ACTissued in the name »of dead
DOWNLOADS person TAX
SERVICE is illegal-High Court
EXCISE/CUSTOM GST JUDGMENTS » CA CS

HOME INCOME TAX COMPANIES ACT DOWNLOADS » SERVICE TAX EXCISE/CUSTOM GST JUDGMENTS » CA CS

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