Notice U/s 148- Income Escaping Assessment

By Author: AKT Associates
Total Articles: 2
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After Furnishing the Return of Income by the assessee, the Income Tax
department processes and verifies the correctness of such return. If the
assessee has not disclosed the income which is chargeable to tax in his return
of income he may get notice u/s 148. In this article we shall discuss about such
notice issued u/s 148.
Contents of the Article
• What is section 148
• Why notice is issued u/s 148
• Who can issue a notice u/s 148
• What are the time limits prescribed to issue a notice
• What to do on getting notice u/s 148
What is section 148?
Section 148 is the section which empowers the assessing officer to issue a
notice to assessee before making an assessment, reassessment, re-
computation u/s 147, requiring him to furnish within such period, as may be
prescribed in the notice, a correct return of his income or the income of any
other person in respect of which he is assessable under th Act during the
previous year corresponding to the relevant assessment year, in the prescribed
form and verified in the prescribed manner and setting forth such other
particulars as may be prescribed.
Why notice is issued u/s 148?
A notice u/s 148 shall be issued by the assessing officer to the assessee as an
intimation to initiate the proceedings u/s 147, if such assessing officer believes
that income of such assessee had escaped assessment and has reliable and
corroborative evidence for such evasions.
Who can issue a notice u/s 148?
Assessment officers who are in below the rank of Assistant Commissioner or
Deputy Commissioner are not permitted to issue a notice.
The notice shall be issued only by the
• officer who are ranked above the Assistant Commissioner or Deputy
Commissioner, or
• Chief Commissioner or Commissioner,

What are the time limits prescribed to issue a notice?
As per the provisions of section 149, the time limit prescribed for issuance of
notices under section 148 shall be as follows:
• The notice has to be served within four years from the end of relevant
assessment year if the Income escaped assessment is Rs.1 Lakh or less
than that.
• The notice has to be served beyond four years but up to 6 years from
the end of relevant assessment year if the Income escaped assessment
is Rs.1 Lakh or more than that.
• The notice has to be served beyond four years but up to 16 years from
the end of relevant assessment year, if such escaped income was in
relation to any asset located outside India, but is chargeable to tax in
India.
What to do on getting notice u/s 148?
On receiving the notice by the assessee u/s 148, the assessee has to check the
reasons for which the assessing officer has issued notice for income escaping
assessment u/s 148. In case of non availability of such reasons, he may request
the assessing officer to send the copy of recorded reasons.
If the assessee has agreed with the reasons stated in the notice issued u/s 148,
he has to file the return of income with due diligence by declaring all income
and expenses as early as possible, if already filed he has to send the copy of
the same to assessing officer.
If the assessee has not agreed with the reasons stated in the notice issued u/s
148, he can go for an appeal to challenge the validity of the Notice issued to
him before the assessing officer or higher authority as the case may be. The
assessment Proceedings will be halted by the court if the assessee wins the
case, otherwise the assessing officer will proceed further with the
Reassessment.