ITAT Upheld Validity of Assessment Order as It Was Handed Over to Postal Dept. Within Limitation Period

Case Details: Shri S.P. Kohli vs. ACIT - [2024] 162 taxmann.com 282 (Indore-Trib.)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

• • Vijay Pal Rao, Judicial Member & B.M. Biyani, Accountant Member
  • Ashish Goyal & N.D. Patwa, ARs. for the Appellant.
  • Ashish Porwal, Sr. DR for the Respondent.

Facts of the Case

The Assessing Officer (AO) completed the assessment and issued an assessment order for the relevant assessment year bearing the date as 30.12.2011 under section 153C. The assessee contended that he received the assessment order on 03.01.2012, which was dispatched only on 02.01.2012 after the limitation period expired on 31.12.2011.

On appeal, CIT(A) upheld the order of AO and the matter reached before the Indore Tribunal.

ITAT Held

The Tribunal held that under the Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) scheme, the post office provides the facility for booking business parcels/speed posts at the place where customers give bulk business. Under the scheme, the post office provides the facility to collect the articles from the customers’ businesses, which are handed over to the authorized post office official.

The booking general contains preprinted speed post article numbers in triplicate copies; therefore, there is no scope for any manipulation on the part of the customers while handing over the articles in the list prepared under the booking general. Further, the post office provides a corresponding sticker with a barcode and speed post article number, which is pasted on the envelope of the articles when handed over to the authorized person. The booking article was handed over to the authorized person of the post office and was duly acknowledged as per the authorized person’s seal, date, and signature.

In the instant case, the AO produced a copy of the booking ledger, which contained the details of the assessment order and respective speed post articles. It was noted that the assessment order of the assessee was collected by the authorized person of the business post centres on 30.12.2011. Thus, it was evident from the record that the AO handed over the assessment order to the postal department’s authorized person within the limitation period.

In case the authorized person of the postal department takes the speed post articles to the department and registers them on the system on 02.01.20212, it will not alter the fact that the assessment order had already gone out of the control of the AO. The delay in booking the articles on the system of the post office may be due to the reason that the article was handed over on 30.12.2011, which was Friday, and thereafter, due to Saturday and Sunday, the booking was finally made on 02.01.2012 by the post office department.

In any case, once the assessment order is handed over to the authorized person of the postal department to be served to the assessee, it is considered issued by the AO. Therefore, the limitation for the issuance of the assessment order will be considered when the AO has handed over the order to the authorized person of the postal department to be served to the assessee.

List of Cases Referred to

• • Rajesh Sunderdas Vaswani v. DCIT 391 ITR 571 (para 5 and 7.4)
  • CIT v. Jasjit Singh [2023] 155 taxmann.com 155/458 ITR 437/295 Taxman 612 (SC) (para 9.2).