Section 283 — Provision for cases where assessment is in pursuance of an order on appeal, etc. Successor to s.150 of the 1961 Act.
Section 283 is in Chapter XVI — Procedure for Assessment, which runs from section 268 to section 301.
This section, as substituted by Act No. 4 of 2026 with effect from 1 April 2026, lifts the ordinary time limit in section 282. Sub-section (1) allows a notice under section 280 to be issued at any time to make an assessment, reassessment or recomputation in consequence of, or to give effect to, a finding or direction in an order of any authority, Tribunal or Court in a proceeding under this Act or any other law, or directions of the Approving Panel under section 274(6). Sub-section (2) withdraws that freedom where the year in question was already time-barred at the relevant moment — when the order that was the subject-matter before the authority, Tribunal or Court was made, when the assessment proceedings that were the subject-matter before the Court (other than those which ended in an order) were initiated, or when the reference to the Approving Panel was made under section 274(4). Sub-section (3) then imposes its own outer limit: the section 280 notice must be issued within three months from the end of the quarter in which the certified copy of the order is received by the jurisdictional Principal Commissioner or Commissioner.
Where an appellate or judicial order contains a finding or direction about another year or another person, the department needs to be able to act on it even after the normal limitation has run; this section provides that opening. Sub-section (2) prevents it being used to revive years that were already dead when the order was made, and the substituted sub-section (3) adds a deadline so the reopening is not open-ended.
| What | Figure | The condition on it | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time limit for issuing the section 280 notice | Three months from the end of the quarter | The quarter in which the certified copy of the order of the authority or the Court is received by the jurisdictional Principal Commissioner or Commissioner; inserted by the substitution made by Act No. 4 of 2026 with effect from 1 April 2026 | Sub-section (3) |
| Ordinary limitation displaced | Notice may be issued at any time | Only for an assessment, reassessment or recomputation in consequence of, or to give effect to, a finding or direction in an order, or directions of the Approving Panel under section 274(6), and subject to sub-sections (2) and (3) | Sub-section (1) |
If an appellate or court order contains a finding or direction touching a year that is otherwise closed, the department may issue a section 280 notice for it, but only within three months of the end of the quarter in which the Commissioner received the certified copy of that order — a point worth checking against the receipt date on the file. The saving in sub-section (2) is the assessee's main defence: if the year could not have been assessed when the order was made, when the court proceedings were initiated, or when the Approving Panel reference was made, the section gives no relief from limitation. Note that this is the substituted section: before 1 April 2026 there was no three-month limit at all, and sub-section (1)(a) reached only orders in appeal, reference or revision under this Act or a proceeding under another law before a Court.
A Tribunal order made in June 2028 in a company’s appeal for one tax year contains a finding that a receipt belongs to an earlier year. Sub-section (1) lets a section 280 notice go out for that earlier year even though section 282 would have closed it — but if that year was already time-barred in June 2028, when the order which was the subject-matter before the Tribunal was made, sub-section (2) blocks the notice outright. Where it was not time-barred, the department still has a deadline of its own: sub-section (3) requires the notice within three months from the end of the quarter in which the certified copy of the order reaches the jurisdictional Principal Commissioner or Commissioner. A copy received in August 2028 therefore leaves until 31 December 2028, and a notice issued in January 2029 is out of time however wide the Tribunal’s direction.
In a notice under section 280 issued after an order of an authority, Tribunal or Court, or after directions of the Approving Panel under section 274(6) — the notice relies on this section to escape the section 282 limit. On receiving one, the two dates to establish are when the order that was before the authority or Court was made, and when its certified copy reached the jurisdictional Principal Commissioner or Commissioner.
notice under section 280 shall be issued within three months from the end of the quarter in which the certified copy of the order of the authority or the Court, as the case may be, is received by the jurisdictional Principal Commissioner or Commissioner
See the full 1961 to 2025 concordance.