A Division Bench of Bombay High Court has held that the notices and proceedings under Income Tax Act, 1961 for deceased assessee as null and void.
The Petitioner, Dhirendra Bhupendra Sanghvi was the legal heir of the deceased assessee who expired on 4th December 2019 at Gandhinagar.
It was stated that the deceased assessee had filed her return of income under Section 39(1) of the Income Tax Act on 5th June 2018 declaring her total income earned from capital gains and income from other sources as the deceased was an investor in shares.
It was stated that the deceased and her family had applied for change of address in PAN as well as transfer of jurisdiction on account of shift in residence from Mumbai to Gandhinagar by her letter dated 9th January 2019 addressed to the department.
Upon death of the deceased, Petitioner’s request for being registered as the legal heir dated 11th April 2020 sent along with a copy of (i) the death certificate, (ii) the Will, and (iii) PAN Card was approved on 13th April 2020. On 20th July 2020, as the legal heir of the deceased, the Petitioner, filed the return of income of the deceased assessee for AY 2020-21. On 4th February 2021 the return of income was processed under Section 143(1) of the Income Tax Act with ‘no demand’.
Since the PAN of the deceased was not cancelled, emails dated 13th December and 15th December 2021 were sent to the Respondent once again and a grievance was also filed on the portal on 15th December 2021 intimating about the death of the deceased. On 29th January 2022, the Respondents reverted on the portal seeking (i) indemnity bond (ii) original pan card to be deleted (iii) legal heir documents and other relevant documents. Thus, the Respondents were aware of the death of the assessee Late Usha B Sanghvi.
Dharan V. Gandhi, on behalf of the petitioner submitted that in spite of being aware, a notice was issued under Section 148A(b) of the Income Tax Act in the name of the deceased.
Devvrat Singh, on behalf of the respondents submitted that the Petitioner had not challenged the intimation order under Section 143(1) of the Income Tax Act in the name of the deceased assessee. He further submitted that the Petitioner had failed to file the indemnity bond as required to register himself as the Legal Heir.
He further submitted that having accepted the Intimation order under Section 143(1) of the Income Tax Act passed by the CPC the Petitioner could not complain about the reassessment proceedings in the name of the deceased.
In support of his contention he relied upon the judgement of the Gujarat High Court in Chandreshbhai Jayantibhai Patel v Income Tax Officer..
The Division Bench of Justice Kamal Khata and Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur quashed the impugned order holding that the notice and all consequential proceedings in the name of a deceased assessee are null and void.
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