In a recent ruling, the Cuttack bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has held that the revisional order passed under 263 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 against a deceased assessee is not valid and quashed the order.
Kusum Mehta, the assessee expired on 12.10.2020 and the information regarding the death of the assessee has been orally intimated to the Assessing Officer. The death certificate had been issued by the Government of Odisha only on 8.3.2021. As the death certificate had been issued only on 8.3.2021, the assessee had applied for a legal heir certificate, which was issued only on 28.2.2022. AR has placed copies of the death certificate and legal heir certificate before us. I
The assessment in the case of the assessee came to be completed on 28.8.201 when the assessee was alive and when the notice u/s.263 had been issued on 10.8.2021, the assessee was no more. It was submitted that the order passed u/s.263 has been passed on a deceased assessee.
It was evident that the year 2020 & 2021 was the Covid period. Since the assessee died on 12.10.2020 due to cancer, the death certificate has been issued after nearly four months being 1.2.2021.
A Coram comprising of Shri George Mathan, Judicial Member and Arun Khodpia, Accountant Member observed that there was no provision under which the legal heir could have intimated the revenue regarding the death of the assessee as they had no certificate issued by the statutory authorities to prove the death. The legal heir certificate can be applied only after obtaining the death certificate.
The ITAT restored the issue to the file of the Pr. CIT for re-adjudication of the issues in the name of the legal heir of the assessee. While allowing the appeal, the Tribunal quashed the order under section 263 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 which has been passed on a deceased assessee.
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