Section 159 of the Income Tax Act
The decision most relied on for Section 159 is Savita Kapila v. ACIT (118 Taxmann.com 46), cited in 98 of the 126 judgments on BharatTax that turn on this section.
Leading authorities on Section 159
There is no legal requirement for a legal representative to report an assessee's death to the income tax department; consequently, a reassessment notice issued under Section 148 to a deceased person is invalid as it lacks proper jurisdiction.
Section 292B of the Income Tax Act applies only to procedural irregularities and cannot cure fundamental jurisdictional defects, such as the non-issue of a mandatory Section 148 notice for reassessment or framing an assessment against a non-existing or dead person.
A notice under section 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, is a jurisdictional notice and a condition precedent for reassessment. Such a notice issued against a deceased person is valid if the legal representative submits to the Assessing Officer without raising any objection.
The same income cannot be assessed substantively in multiple hands. However, this principle does not prevent a single consolidated assessment order for multiple legal representatives.
Assessment and penalty proceedings initiated against a deceased assessee are invalid if not made in the name of their legal heir.
Income should be taxed only once in the hands of the rightful assessee; substantive assessments cannot be made simultaneously on multiple legal heirs.
An omission or defect in serving a notice required by procedural provisions does not invalidate a tax liability created by substantive charging sections, making the assessment irregular but not void.
Judgments on Section 159
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