Section 299 of the Income-tax Act, 2025

Section 299 — Authority competent to make assessment of block period. Successor to s.158BG of the 1961 Act.

Where this section sits

Section 299 is in Chapter XVI — Procedure for Assessment, which runs from section 268 to section 301.

What this section does

Sub-section (1) provides that the order of assessment for the block period shall be passed by an Assessing Officer not below the rank of a Deputy Commissioner or an Assistant Commissioner or a Deputy Director or an Assistant Director.

Sub-section (2) requires that order to be passed with the previous approval of the Additional Commissioner or the Additional Director or the Joint Commissioner or the Joint Director, in respect of a search initiated or a requisition made on or after the commencement of the Act.

Why it is there

A block period assessment follows a search and covers several years at once, so the section puts it beyond the reach of the ordinary Assessing Officer and adds a second signature above him. Rank and approval together are the safeguard against a heavy multi-year assessment being made without supervision.

Who it applies to

An assessee whose block period is being assessed following a search or requisition
An Assessing Officer of the rank of Deputy Commissioner, Assistant Commissioner, Deputy Director or Assistant Director, who alone may pass the order
The Additional Commissioner, Additional Director, Joint Commissioner or Joint Director whose previous approval is required

What this means in practice

Both requirements are conditions on the order itself, not internal formalities. The rank requirement is a floor — an officer below Deputy Commissioner, Assistant Commissioner, Deputy Director or Assistant Director cannot pass a block period assessment — and the approval is expressed as previous approval, so it must be obtained before the order is passed rather than recorded afterwards. Sub-section (2) is limited by its own terms to a search initiated or a requisition made on or after the commencement of the Act.

Where you meet this section

It shows up on the face of the block period assessment order: the designation of the officer signing it, and the recital of the previous approval of the Additional or Joint Commissioner or Director. Those two features are what a recipient checks first when the order is examined in appeal.

The words themselves

The order of assessment for the block period shall be passed by an Assessing Officer not below the rank of a Deputy Commissioner or an Assistant Commissioner or a Deputy Director or an Assistant Director.

Section 299(1), Income-tax Act, 2025.

What people get wrong

Treating the approval as capable of being given after the order. Sub-section (2) requires previous approval.
Reading the rank requirement as a matter of jurisdiction allocation only. Sub-section (1) states who may pass the order of assessment for the block period, and it is a floor of rank.
Applying the approval requirement to older searches. Sub-section (2) is confined to a search initiated or a requisition made on or after the commencement of the Act.

What this replaced

The correspondence is the Income Tax Department’s own, from its comparison utility for the 1961 and 2025 Acts. A renumbering is the easy half; whether the words changed is the half that decides cases.

158BG - Authority competent to make assessment of block period

See the full 1961 to 2025 concordance.

What this page does not tell you. It does not reproduce the section. Everything above was written from the section’s own text as the Income Tax Department publishes it — the text is here, and nothing here is advice on your facts. Where a figure matters, read the sub-section it comes from.