Whether JAO Can Issue Income Tax Reassessment Notice after Introduction of Faceless Assessment Scheme: Supreme Court to Decide
Supreme Court to decide on 11 August 2025 whether Jurisdictional AOs can issue reassessment notices after the faceless assessment scheme, amid conflicting Bombay and Delhi HC rulings
The Supreme Court will on 11 August 2025 will admit a case that will settle a growing conflict between on whether a Jurisdictional Assessing Officer (JAO) can issue a reassessment notice after the introduction of the Faceless Assessment Scheme. The petition was filed on 21 July 2025 against a Delhi High Court order dated 28 October 2024. The matter will be heard by Justices...
The Supreme Court will on 11 August 2025 will admit a case that will settle a growing conflict between on whether a Jurisdictional Assessing Officer (JAO) can issue a reassessment notice after the introduction of the Faceless Assessment Scheme.
The petition was filed on 21 July 2025 against a Delhi High Court order dated 28 October 2024. The matter will be heard by Justices B.V. Nagarathna and K.V. Viswanathan.
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The legal question came before the Bombay High Court in Hexaware Technologies Limited v. ACIT, decided on 3 May 2024. In that case, the court ruled that after the introduction of Section 151A and the Faceless Reassessment Scheme, reassessment notices must be issued through the faceless system by the Faceless Assessing Officer, or FAO.
The court held that the JAO no longer had concurrent jurisdiction to issue such notices. It reasoned that allowing JAOs to continue would undermine the purpose of the faceless system and its automated case allocation process.
Five months later, on 28 October 2024, the Delhi High Court in T.K.S. Builders Pvt. Ltd. v. Income Tax Officer took a different view. It ruled that the JAO’s role was not removed by the faceless framework but rather complemented it.
The court explained that reassessment is a two-stage process: the JAO conducts the initial inquiry and forms the belief that income has escaped assessment, while the FAO conducts the faceless reassessment. The Delhi High Court also pointed to a government notification dated 13 August 2020 granting concurrent powers to NFAC officers and traditional Assessing Officers, which the Bombay High Court decision had not considered.
These differences in legal interpretation have now reached the Supreme Court. If the court upholds the Delhi High Court’s view, JAOs will retain the authority to issue reassessment notices alongside the faceless process. If it agrees with the Bombay High Court’s ruling, only FAOs operating through the faceless system will have that power.
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