Reassessment Notices Issued in the Name of a Deceased Person is invalid
Reassessment Notices Issued in the Name of a Deceased Person is invalid as held by ITAT Delhi ruling in Lalita Agarwal (Legal Heir of Late Shri Subhash Chandra Agarwal) v. ACIT -(ITA Nos. 5663–5667/Del/2024, dated 12 November 2025).
Let us have a Short Overview of the Case: –
1. Core Issue:-Whether reassessment notices issued under section 148 in the name and PAN of a deceased assessee, despite prior intimation of death having been furnished to the Department, can confer valid jurisdiction for completing reassessment under sections 147/144/147.
2. Statutory Framework
2.1 Section 147 – Income Escaping Assessment
Confers power to reassess income, subject to valid issuance of notice under section 148.
2.2 Section 148 – Mandatory Notice
A reassessment can be initiated only if a notice is issued to “the assessee”.
A notice issued to a non-existent person is a substantive jurisdictional defect, not a procedural irregularity.
2.3 Section 159 – Legal Representatives
Provides that proceedings “may be taken” against legal heirs as if the legal representative were the assessee.
However, the preliminary step of issuing notice to the correct person, i.e., the legal representative, is mandatory.
2.4 Jurisdictional Principle
If the foundational notice is void, the entire assessment collapses.
A defective jurisdiction cannot be cured by section 292B or 292BB where notice itself is issued to a non-existent person.
Facts Highlighted by the Tribunal
• Late Shri Subhash Chandra Agarwal (PAN: AANPA3967D) passed away on 4 December 2014.
• On 23 January 2015, the legal heir (Smt. Lalita Agarwal) intimated the Department and furnished the death certificate.
• Despite this, for AYs 2009–10 to 2014–15:
• Numerous notices u/s 148 were issued in the name of the deceased.
• Assessment orders were similarly passed in the PAN of the deceased.
• Separately, assessment proceedings were also carried out in the PAN of the legal heir, but no income of the deceased was assessed in those orders.
• Identical issue had been decided in favour of the assessee by ITAT Delhi in earlier years (AYs 2008-09 to 2010-11).
4. Tribunal’s Observations and Findings:
4.1 Notices issued to a deceased assessee are unenforceable :-The Tribunal followed the settled principle that a reassessment notice issued in the name of a deceased person is void ab initio.
4.2 Reliance on Delhi High Court’s – Relied on Savita Kapila v. ACIT (2020) 426 ITR 502 (Del.), which held there is no statutory obligation on the legal representative to inform the Department of the assessee’s death.
• A notice issued to a dead person is invalid, and
• Valid jurisdiction arises only when notice is issued to the legal representative.
4.3 Section 292B cannot cure the defect :-The defect is jurisdictional, not procedural.A notice to a deceased assessee is a nullity and cannot be validated.
4.4 Earlier years already decided in favour of the assessee : In the assessee’s own case for earlier years, the identical issue had been quashed by the ITAT Delhi following Savita Kapila
The copy of the order is as under:
