Notice Issued U/S 148A(b) Income Tax Act To Registered Email ID Of Assessee A Jurisdictional Requirement; Not An Empty Formality: Allahabad HC
The Allahabad High Court observed that a notice issued under Section 148A(b) of the Income Tax Act to the registered email ID of an assessee was a jurisdictional requirement and not an empty formality.
The petitioner was a private company engaged in developing and Managing hotels. The Company received a notice under Section 148-A (d) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (the Act) at its previous mail address registered on the portal of the Income Tax Department. A copy of the same was sent to another email ID of the Company.
The Court had to determine whether the email ID made available by the Company could be construed to be a registered email ID under Section 144B of the Act.
A Division Bench of Justice Vivek Chaudhary and Justice Om Prakash Shukla observed, “If the registered email address of the assessee cannot be determined from (a) e-filing account of the addressee registered in designated portal or (b) from the last income tax return furnished, or (c) from the permanent Account number data base relating to the addressee or (d) from the official website of the Ministry of corporate affairs, etc. then only the authority may resort to any e-mail address made available by the assessee.”
Advocate Manish Misra represented the petitioner, while A.S.G.I. Kushagra Dikshit appeared for the respondents.
The Court noted the existence of the two email IDs of the Company and discussed the alternatives provided under the Act for considering any email address as a registered e-mail address.
A notice under Section 148A(b) was issued by the income tax department to the petitioner on the ground that there had been a heavy financial transaction during the said assessment year for the sale/purchase of a property as per Section 56(2)(x) of the Act.
The Company argued that the service of notice was not legally served to them by the authorities.
The Court held that the e-mail ID made available by the Company to the Authority was the registered e-mail address of the company for tax purposes.
“Notice issued under Section 148A(b) of the Act, 1961 to the registered email ID of the assessee is not an empty formality as the issuance of the notice and service of such notice upon the assessee are jurisdictional requirement that must be mandatorily complied with as it provides an opportunity to the addressee to satisfy the Assessing Officer with his reply, even before the issuance of the notice under Section 148 of the Act, 1961,” the Court remarked.
Accordingly, the High Court partly allowed the petition.
Cause Title: Grs Hotel Pvt. Ltd. Lko. v. Union Of India & Ors. (Neutral Citation: 2024:AHC-LKO:17393-DB)
Appearance:
Petitioner: Advocates Manish Misra, Dileep Pandey and Gaurav Upadhyay
Respondents: A.S.G.I. Kushagra Dikshit