The search on my client began on 12 February 2025 and the last panchnama is dated 9 April 2025. What exactly is the block period, and which date ends it?
The block period has two limbs. It is the previous years relevant to six assessment years preceding the previous year in which the search was initiated, PLUS the period starting on 1 April of the previous year in which the search was initiated and ending on the date of execution of the last of the authorisations. On your facts the search was initiated in the previous year 2024-25, so the second limb runs from 1 April 2024 to 9 April 2025 — the date of the last panchnama, not the date the search began and not 31 March 2025.
Decided by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions (Not applicable — statutory text) on 2024-09-01, reported as Income-tax Act 1961, s.158B, substituted w.e.f. 1 September 2024 by s.49 of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2024 (Act No. 15 of 2024); words 'virtual digital asset' inserted by the Finance Act 2025 (Act No. 7 of 2025) w.r.e.f. 1 September 2024. It bears on section 158B, section 158BA, section 158BE, section 132, section 132A of the Income Tax Act 1961, in Search, Survey & Block Assessment, Assessment & Scrutiny, How Tax Law Is Read and Evidence & Burden of Proof matters.
Three practical consequences follow from the drafting, and each is a live point. First, the block period is not tied to the assessment year of the search in the way section 153A was; it is tied to the previous year in which the search was INITIATED, and to the execution of the LAST authorisation, which may fall in a different previous year from the first. Second, the second limb straddles the year-end, so a single block assessment can reach income of a period for which the return was not even due. Third, the Explanation now defines when the last of the authorisations is deemed executed — in a search, on the conclusion of the search as recorded in the LAST PANCHNAMA drawn in relation to any person in whose case the warrant was issued; in a requisition, on actual receipt of the books, documents or assets by the Authorised Officer. That makes the panchnama the controlling document for both the end of the block period and the start of limitation under section 158BE, which is why the old panchnama litigation (a panchnama that records no search, restraint orders kept alive to buy time) is worth revisiting on the new wording. The definition of 'undisclosed income' has also been widened: it now expressly picks up 'any expenditure', and any 'expense, exemption, deduction or allowance claimed under this Act which is found to be INCORRECT' — the old Chapter said 'false'. A wrongly claimed deduction is now capable of being undisclosed income without any finding of falsity. Virtual digital assets were added by the Finance Act 2025 with retrospective effect from 1 September 2024.
Binding on the department, not on the assessee or the courts. An assessee may rely on a circular that is beneficial to them.
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Not a case. Section 158B(a) defines 'block period' as 'the period comprising previous years relevant to six assessment years preceding the previous year in which the search was initiated under section 132 or any requisition was made under section 132A and also includes the period starting from the 1st day of April of the previous year in which search was initiated or requisition was made and ending on the date of the execution of the last of the authorisations for such search or such requisition'. Section 158B(b) defines 'undisclosed income' as including any money, bullion, jewellery, virtual digital asset or other valuable article or thing or any expenditure or any income based on any entry in the books of account or other documents or transactions, where the item represents wholly or partly income or property which has not been or would not have been disclosed for the purposes of the Act, or any expense, exemption, deduction or allowance claimed under the Act which is found to be incorrect, in respect of the block period. The Explanation to the Chapter provides that the last of the authorisations shall be deemed to have been executed (a) in the case of search, on the conclusion of search as recorded in the last panchnama drawn in relation to any person in whose case the warrant of authorisation has been issued, and (b) in the case of a requisition under section 132A, on the actual receipt of the books of account or other documents or assets by the Authorised Officer.
Statutory position — no holding is asserted; this entry reproduces statutory text. The block period comprises the previous years relevant to six assessment years preceding the previous year in which the search was initiated or the requisition made, together with the period from 1 April of that previous year to the date of execution of the last of the authorisations. 'Undisclosed income' extends to expenditure and to any expense, exemption, deduction or allowance claimed under the Act which is found to be incorrect, and includes virtual digital assets. The date of execution of the last authorisation is fixed by the last panchnama, or in a requisition case by actual receipt of the material by the Authorised Officer.
Not a judicial route. The definition is built to close the two gaps that the 1995 Chapter left open. The part period no longer stops at the date the search commenced but runs to the execution of the last authorisation, which removes the argument that income of the interval between the start of the search and its conclusion falls outside the block. The Explanation supplies a statutory answer to the question that generated most of the old litigation — when is the last authorisation executed — by pinning it to the last panchnama drawn in relation to any person covered by the warrant. On the substantive side, the substitution of 'incorrect' for 'false' and the addition of 'exemption' and of 'any expenditure' widen the concept of undisclosed income beyond concealment properly so called, so that an over-claim is within the definition without any finding of dishonesty.
"block period" means the period comprising previous years relevant to six assessment years preceding the previous year in which the search was initiated under section 132 or any requisition was made under section 132A and also includes the period starting from the 1st day of April of the previous year in which search was initiated or requisition was made and ending on the date of the execution of the last of the authorisations for such search or such requisition;
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Handle my notice → Ask a CA on WhatsAppThe block period has two limbs. It is the previous years relevant to six assessment years preceding the previous year in which the search was initiated, PLUS the period starting on 1 April of the previous year in which the search was initiated and ending on the date of execution of the last of the authorisations. On your facts the search was initiated in the previous year 2024-25, so the second limb runs from 1 April 2024 to 9 April 2025 — the date of the last panchnama, not the date the search began and not 31 March 2025. This was decided by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions (Not applicable — statutory text) and bears on section 158B, section 158BA, section 158BE, section 132, section 132A of the Income Tax Act 1961. It is reported as Income-tax Act 1961, s.158B, substituted w.e.f. 1 September 2024 by s.49 of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2024 (Act No. 15 of 2024); words 'virtual digital asset' inserted by the Finance Act 2025 (Act No. 7 of 2025) w.r.e.f. 1 September 2024. Three practical consequences follow from the drafting, and each is a live point. First, the block period is not tied to the assessment year of the search in the way section 153A was; it is tied to the previous year in which the search was INITIATED, and to the execution of the LAST authorisation, which may fall in a different previous year from the first. Second, the second limb straddles the year-end, so a single block assessment can reach income of a period for which the return was not even due. Third, the Explanation now defines when the last of the authorisations is deemed executed — in a search, on the conclusion of the search as recorded in the LAST PANCHNAMA drawn in relation to any person in whose case the warrant was issued; in a requisition, on actual receipt of the books, documents or assets by the Authorised Officer. That makes the panchnama the controlling document for both the end of the block period and the start of limitation under section 158BE, which is why the old panchnama litigation (a panchnama that records no search, restraint orders kept alive to buy time) is worth revisiting on the new wording. The definition of 'undisclosed income' has also been widened: it now expressly picks up 'any expenditure', and any 'expense, exemption, deduction or allowance claimed under this Act which is found to be INCORRECT' — the old Chapter said 'false'. A wrongly claimed deduction is now capable of being undisclosed income without any finding of falsity. Virtual digital assets were added by the Finance Act 2025 with retrospective effect from 1 September 2024. If it applies to you, the first step is this: Get every panchnama on the file, including those drawn on later dates and at other premises covered by the same warrant, and identify the last one. That date, not the date the team first entered, ends the block period and starts the section 158BE clock.
Not a case. Section 158B(a) defines 'block period' as 'the period comprising previous years relevant to six assessment years preceding the previous year in which the search was initiated under section 132 or any requisition was made under section 132A and also includes the period starting from the 1st day of April of the previous year in which search was initiated or requisition was made and ending on the date of the execution of the last of the authorisations for such search or such requisition'. Section 158B(b) defines 'undisclosed income' as including any money, bullion, jewellery, virtual digital asset or other valuable article or thing or any expenditure or any income based on any entry in the books of account or other documents or transactions, where the item represents wholly or partly income or property which has not been or would not have been disclosed for the purposes of the Act, or any expense, exemption, deduction or allowance claimed under the Act which is found to be incorrect, in respect of the block period. The Explanation to the Chapter provides that the last of the authorisations shall be deemed to have been executed (a) in the case of search, on the conclusion of search as recorded in the last panchnama drawn in relation to any person in whose case the warrant of authorisation has been issued, and (b) in the case of a requisition under section 132A, on the actual receipt of the books of account or other documents or assets by the Authorised Officer. The matter was decided on 2024-09-01 by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions (Not applicable — statutory text). On those facts the CBDT Circulars & Instructions held as follows. Statutory position — no holding is asserted; this entry reproduces statutory text. The block period comprises the previous years relevant to six assessment years preceding the previous year in which the search was initiated or the requisition made, together with the period from 1 April of that previous year to the date of execution of the last of the authorisations. 'Undisclosed income' extends to expenditure and to any expense, exemption, deduction or allowance claimed under the Act which is found to be incorrect, and includes virtual digital assets. The date of execution of the last authorisation is fixed by the last panchnama, or in a requisition case by actual receipt of the material by the Authorised Officer.
Not a judicial route. The definition is built to close the two gaps that the 1995 Chapter left open. The part period no longer stops at the date the search commenced but runs to the execution of the last authorisation, which removes the argument that income of the interval between the start of the search and its conclusion falls outside the block. The Explanation supplies a statutory answer to the question that generated most of the old litigation — when is the last authorisation executed — by pinning it to the last panchnama drawn in relation to any person covered by the warrant. On the substantive side, the substitution of 'incorrect' for 'false' and the addition of 'exemption' and of 'any expenditure' widen the concept of undisclosed income beyond concealment properly so called, so that an over-claim is within the definition without any finding of dishonesty. In the words reproduced by the source cited on this page: ""block period" means the period comprising previous years relevant to six assessment years preceding the previous year in which the search was initiated under section 132 or any requisition was made under section 132A and also includes the period starting from the 1st day of April of the previous year in which search was initiated or requisition was made and ending on the date of the execution of the last of the authorisations for such search or such requisition;"
It was decided by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions on 2024-09-01 and is reported as Income-tax Act 1961, s.158B, substituted w.e.f. 1 September 2024 by s.49 of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2024 (Act No. 15 of 2024); words 'virtual digital asset' inserted by the Finance Act 2025 (Act No. 7 of 2025) w.r.e.f. 1 September 2024. Binding on the department, not on the assessee or the courts. An assessee may rely on a circular that is beneficial to them. A CBDT circular or instruction binds officers of the department but not the assessee and not the courts. Where a circular helps you, you may hold the department to it. Where it hurts you, it cannot override the Act or a judgment. On section 158B, section 158BA, section 158BE, section 132, section 132A, the practical question is whether the facts of your own notice match the facts of this case closely enough for the same rule to apply.
It cuts both ways and is cited by both sides. Statutory position — no holding is asserted; this entry reproduces statutory text. The block period comprises the previous years relevant to six assessment years preceding the previous year in which the search was initiated or the requisition made, together with the period from 1 April of that previous year to the date of execution of the last of the authorisations. 'Undisclosed income' extends to expenditure and to any expense, exemption, deduction or allowance claimed under the Act which is found to be incorrect, and includes virtual digital assets. The date of execution of the last authorisation is fixed by the last panchnama, or in a requisition case by actual receipt of the material by the Authorised Officer. It arises in Search, Survey & Block Assessment, Assessment & Scrutiny, How Tax Law Is Read and Evidence & Burden of Proof matters, on section 158B, section 158BA, section 158BE, section 132, section 132A of the Income Tax Act 1961, and was decided by Not applicable — statutory text. Before relying on it, read the source linked on this page and check whether it has since been distinguished, overruled or overtaken by an amendment to the Income Tax Act. In practice the steps that follow from it are these. Write out the block period limb by limb on the file: the six previous years, and then the part period from 1 April of the previous year of initiation to the date of execution of the last authorisation. Check that the two limbs meet without a gap — if your computation leaves a previous year outside both limbs, it is wrong. For a search initiated in FY 2024-25 and concluded in FY 2025-26, note that the part period crosses the year end and covers more than twelve months; there is nothing in the definition that stops it. Where the department treats a disallowed claim as undisclosed income, test it against the new words: the claim must be 'found to be incorrect'. That is a lower threshold than the old 'found to be false', so an argument that the department must prove falsity is no longer available on the text — argue instead about whether the claim is incorrect at all. If the case involves crypto or other virtual digital assets, note that they were written into the definition by the Finance Act 2025 with retrospective effect from 1 September 2024, so they are within the definition for the whole life of the revived Chapter. Do not carry across the pre-2003 proviso that extended the block to ten assessment years for searches before 1 June 2001. It has no counterpart in the substituted section 158B.
Still good law. In force from 1 September 2024, with 'virtual digital asset' added retrospectively from that date by the Finance Act 2025. No decision construing the substituted section 158B on its own facts was located other than Saroj Kumar Sahoo (Orissa High Court, 18 February 2026), which is already in this library and whose treatment of the six-year limb is recorded in the editor note above. Validity check limited to that search; I did not check for later High Court treatment of Saroj Kumar Sahoo. No source could be cited for that finding. Checking whether an authority still stands matters as much as knowing what it held: a decision may be overruled on one point and survive on another, or the provision it interprets may have been amended since. Read the source and the editor's note on this page before relying on it in a reply to an Assessing Officer or in an appeal.
The first limb of the definition is capable of more than one reading and the point is not settled. The words are 'previous years relevant to six assessment years preceding the previous year in which the search was initiated'. Read so that the two limbs of the definition meet without a gap — which is how the identically structured pre-2003 definition was worked in practice — a search initiated in the previous year 2024-25 gives previous years 2018-19 to 2023-24 (assessment years 2019-20 to 2024-25) plus the part period from 1 April 2024. The Orissa High Court in Saroj Kumar Sahoo, on a search commenced 26 November 2024, listed the six assessment years as 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24; that list, if the years are read as assessment years, leaves the previous year 2023-24 outside both limbs of the definition. The Court did not need to resolve the point, because the year before it (assessment year 2022-23) fell inside the block period on either reading. The difficulty is recorded here rather than resolved, and a reader whose case turns on the earliest or the latest year of the block should treat it as open. The definition in force is the one substituted with effect from 1 September 2024, and it brings a virtual digital asset within the things that may constitute undisclosed income. Older texts of section 158B, printing the definition as it stood from 1995 with its ten-year proviso, belong to the Chapter as it was before 2003 and must not be used for a search initiated on or after 1 September 2024. This is a statutory entry and not a decision: 'bench' and 'favours' carry no case values, 'tier' is set to 'cbdt' because the library's fixed tier vocabulary has no value for a statutory entry and the source is the Income-tax Department's own section pages rather than a Board circular, and 'decided_on' is not a date of decision but the date the substituted Chapter XIV-B commences, 1 September 2024. Two further things a reader should carry. The block period is fixed by reference to the previous year in which the search under section 132 was initiated or the requisition under section 132A was made, so the date of initiation, and not the date of the authorisation or of the panchnama, is what has to be established first. And the outer limit for completing the assessment runs under section 158BE from a different date again. Section 158BA carries the charge and the conditions on which the assessment of the block period proceeds; nothing in the definition in section 158B answers the questions that arise under it. This library shows the verification state of every entry openly. This entry has not yet been read in full by a chartered accountant. The summary reflects the sources listed on this page. Read the source before you rely on it in a reply to an Assessing Officer or in an appeal before the Commissioner (Appeals) or the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal.
Statutory position — no holding is asserted; this entry reproduces statutory text. The block period comprises the previous years relevant to six assessment years preceding the previous year in which the search was initiated or the requisition made, together with the period from 1 April of that previous year to the date of execution of the last of the authorisations. 'Undisclosed income' extends to expenditure and to any expense, exemption, deduction or allowance claimed under the Act which is found to be incorrect, and includes virtual digital assets. The date of execution of the last authorisation is fixed by the last panchnama, or in a requisition case by actual receipt of the material by the Authorised Officer.
TaxSphere, “Statutory position — section 158B: how the block period is built, and what "undisclosed income" now means”, https://taxnotice.vittsphere.com/caselaw/case/section-158b-block-period-and-undisclosed-income-from-1-september-2024/ (validity last checked 2026-09-08)
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Material seized in someone else's search has been passed to my client's Assessing Officer, who has issued a section 158BC notice. What is my client's block period, and from when does the department's time run?
The last panchnama in my client's search is dated 9 April 2025. By when must the block assessment order be passed?
My scrutiny assessment was still running when they searched me in November 2024. Section 158BA(2) says a pending assessment abates. Can I have the assessment order quashed in a writ on that ground alone?
A search was carried out at my client's premises in March 2025 and the notice quotes section 158BC. My whole file of authority is on section 153A. Which law actually applies to him?
