The last panchnama in my client's search is dated 9 April 2025. By when must the block assessment order be passed?
Twelve months from the end of the QUARTER in which the last of the authorisations was executed — so, on those facts, from the end of the quarter ending 30 June 2025, which gives 30 June 2026, subject to the exclusions and extensions in the section. The old Chapter ran the period from the end of the MONTH; the substituted section 158BE runs it from the end of the quarter, which can add up to nearly three months to the department's time.
Decided by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions (Not applicable — statutory text) on 2024-09-01, reported as Income-tax Act 1961, s.158BE, substituted w.e.f. 1 September 2024 by s.49 of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2024 (Act No. 15 of 2024). It bears on section 158BE, section 158BC, section 158BD, section 158B, section 92CA, section 142(2A), section 142A, section 129, section 144BA, section 153 of the Income Tax Act 1961, in Search, Survey & Block Assessment, Assessment & Scrutiny and How Tax Law Is Read matters.
Limitation is the first ground in a block case and the arithmetic has changed in every limb. The base period is twelve months from the end of the quarter of execution of the last authorisation, not one or two years from the end of the month as under the 1995 Chapter. It becomes thirteen months where the return period was extended by thirty days under the fifth proviso to section 158BC(1)(a). It is extended by a further twelve months where a reference is made to the Transfer Pricing Officer under section 92CA(1). Up to one hundred and eighty days is excluded between initiation of the search and the handing over of the seized material to the Assessing Officer having jurisdiction — a large and often overlooked exclusion, which the department will use, and which has its own proviso rounding the resulting date to the end of a month. For the OTHER person under section 158BD the clock does not run from the search at all: it runs twelve months from the end of the quarter in which the section 158BC notice was issued to that other person, again extendable by twelve months for a transfer-pricing reference and to thirteen months for the audit extension. Sub-section (4) then lists ten further exclusions — court stay, exchange of information under section 90 or section 90A capped at one year, rehearing under the proviso to section 129, a special audit or inventory valuation direction under section 142(2A), a valuation reference under section 142A, withdrawal of approval proceedings, references to the Principal Commissioner under the second proviso to section 143(3), a section 144BA impermissible avoidance reference, and advance ruling applications — with a floor of sixty days and rounding to the end of a month.
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Not a case. Section 158BE(1) provides that, notwithstanding the provisions of section 153, the order under section 158BC shall be passed within twelve months from the end of the quarter in which the last of the authorisations for search under section 132, or requisition under section 132A, was executed or made. The first proviso extends the period by twelve months where a reference under section 92CA(1) is made during the proceedings. The second proviso substitutes thirteen months for twelve where the time for furnishing the return was extended by thirty days under the fifth proviso to section 158BC(1)(a). Sub-section (2) excludes a period not exceeding one hundred and eighty days from the initiation of the search or requisition to the handing over of the seized or requisitioned material to the Assessing Officer having jurisdiction, with a proviso extending the resulting period to the end of the month. Sub-section (3) fixes the limitation for the other person referred to in section 158BD at twelve months from the end of the quarter in which the notice under section 158BC in pursuance of section 158BD was issued to that other person, with the same two provisos. Sub-section (4) lists ten periods that are excluded in computing limitation under the section, followed by a proviso extending any remaining period of less than sixty days to sixty days and a further proviso extending a period expiring mid-month to the end of that month.
Statutory position — no holding is asserted; this entry reproduces statutory text. A block assessment order under section 158BC must be passed within twelve months from the end of the quarter in which the last of the authorisations was executed or the requisition made, extended by twelve months for a transfer-pricing reference and to thirteen months where the return period was extended, and subject to the exclusions in sub-sections (2) and (4). In a section 158BD case the period runs from the end of the quarter in which the section 158BC notice was issued to the other person.
Not a judicial route. Three changes of technique are visible on the face of the section. The starting point moves from the end of the month to the end of the quarter, which converts a date-specific computation into a quarter-end computation and gives the department between twelve and fifteen months in real terms. The handover exclusion in sub-section (2), which the 1995 Chapter did not contain in this form, recognises that the assessing officer with jurisdiction is often not the authorised officer who conducted the search. And the section 158BD clock is expressly decoupled from the search and attached to the notice issued to the other person, which removes the difficulty that arose under the old Chapter about when time began to run against a person who was never searched.
Notwithstanding the provisions of section 153, the order under section 158BC shall be passed within twelve months from the end of the quarter in which the last of the authorisations for search under section 132, or requisition under section 132A, was executed or made, as the case may be:
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Handle my notice → Ask a CA on WhatsAppTwelve months from the end of the QUARTER in which the last of the authorisations was executed — so, on those facts, from the end of the quarter ending 30 June 2025, which gives 30 June 2026, subject to the exclusions and extensions in the section. The old Chapter ran the period from the end of the MONTH; the substituted section 158BE runs it from the end of the quarter, which can add up to nearly three months to the department's time. This was decided by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions (Not applicable — statutory text) and bears on section 158BE, section 158BC, section 158BD, section 158B, section 92CA, section 142(2A), section 142A, section 129, section 144BA, section 153 of the Income Tax Act 1961. It is reported as Income-tax Act 1961, s.158BE, substituted w.e.f. 1 September 2024 by s.49 of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2024 (Act No. 15 of 2024). Limitation is the first ground in a block case and the arithmetic has changed in every limb. The base period is twelve months from the end of the quarter of execution of the last authorisation, not one or two years from the end of the month as under the 1995 Chapter. It becomes thirteen months where the return period was extended by thirty days under the fifth proviso to section 158BC(1)(a). It is extended by a further twelve months where a reference is made to the Transfer Pricing Officer under section 92CA(1). Up to one hundred and eighty days is excluded between initiation of the search and the handing over of the seized material to the Assessing Officer having jurisdiction — a large and often overlooked exclusion, which the department will use, and which has its own proviso rounding the resulting date to the end of a month. For the OTHER person under section 158BD the clock does not run from the search at all: it runs twelve months from the end of the quarter in which the section 158BC notice was issued to that other person, again extendable by twelve months for a transfer-pricing reference and to thirteen months for the audit extension. Sub-section (4) then lists ten further exclusions — court stay, exchange of information under section 90 or section 90A capped at one year, rehearing under the proviso to section 129, a special audit or inventory valuation direction under section 142(2A), a valuation reference under section 142A, withdrawal of approval proceedings, references to the Principal Commissioner under the second proviso to section 143(3), a section 144BA impermissible avoidance reference, and advance ruling applications — with a floor of sixty days and rounding to the end of a month. If it applies to you, the first step is this: Compute the base date from the LAST panchnama, using the Explanation to section 158B, and then take the end of the quarter in which that date falls before counting twelve months.
Not a case. Section 158BE(1) provides that, notwithstanding the provisions of section 153, the order under section 158BC shall be passed within twelve months from the end of the quarter in which the last of the authorisations for search under section 132, or requisition under section 132A, was executed or made. The first proviso extends the period by twelve months where a reference under section 92CA(1) is made during the proceedings. The second proviso substitutes thirteen months for twelve where the time for furnishing the return was extended by thirty days under the fifth proviso to section 158BC(1)(a). Sub-section (2) excludes a period not exceeding one hundred and eighty days from the initiation of the search or requisition to the handing over of the seized or requisitioned material to the Assessing Officer having jurisdiction, with a proviso extending the resulting period to the end of the month. Sub-section (3) fixes the limitation for the other person referred to in section 158BD at twelve months from the end of the quarter in which the notice under section 158BC in pursuance of section 158BD was issued to that other person, with the same two provisos. Sub-section (4) lists ten periods that are excluded in computing limitation under the section, followed by a proviso extending any remaining period of less than sixty days to sixty days and a further proviso extending a period expiring mid-month to the end of that month. 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. A block assessment order under section 158BC must be passed within twelve months from the end of the quarter in which the last of the authorisations was executed or the requisition made, extended by twelve months for a transfer-pricing reference and to thirteen months where the return period was extended, and subject to the exclusions in sub-sections (2) and (4). In a section 158BD case the period runs from the end of the quarter in which the section 158BC notice was issued to the other person.
Not a judicial route. Three changes of technique are visible on the face of the section. The starting point moves from the end of the month to the end of the quarter, which converts a date-specific computation into a quarter-end computation and gives the department between twelve and fifteen months in real terms. The handover exclusion in sub-section (2), which the 1995 Chapter did not contain in this form, recognises that the assessing officer with jurisdiction is often not the authorised officer who conducted the search. And the section 158BD clock is expressly decoupled from the search and attached to the notice issued to the other person, which removes the difficulty that arose under the old Chapter about when time began to run against a person who was never searched. In the words reproduced by the source cited on this page: "Notwithstanding the provisions of section 153, the order under section 158BC shall be passed within twelve months from the end of the quarter in which the last of the authorisations for search under section 132, or requisition under section 132A, was executed or made, as the case may be:"
It was decided by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions on 2024-09-01 and is reported as Income-tax Act 1961, s.158BE, substituted w.e.f. 1 September 2024 by s.49 of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2024 (Act No. 15 of 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 158BE, section 158BC, section 158BD, section 158B, section 92CA, section 142(2A), section 142A, section 129, section 144BA, section 153, 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. A block assessment order under section 158BC must be passed within twelve months from the end of the quarter in which the last of the authorisations was executed or the requisition made, extended by twelve months for a transfer-pricing reference and to thirteen months where the return period was extended, and subject to the exclusions in sub-sections (2) and (4). In a section 158BD case the period runs from the end of the quarter in which the section 158BC notice was issued to the other person. It arises in Search, Survey & Block Assessment, Assessment & Scrutiny and How Tax Law Is Read matters, on section 158BE, section 158BC, section 158BD, section 158B, section 92CA, section 142(2A), section 142A, section 129, section 144BA, section 153 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. Ask the department, in writing and early, for the date on which the seized material was handed over to the Assessing Officer having jurisdiction, so that you can check how much of the one hundred and eighty day exclusion in sub-section (2) is actually being claimed. It is capped at one hundred and eighty days and it ends on handover, not on some later date of convenience. Check whether a reference under section 92CA(1) was in fact made, and when. The twelve-month extension in the first proviso depends on a reference having been made during the block proceedings, not on the case merely having an international transaction. In a section 158BD case, do not count from the search. Count twelve months from the end of the quarter in which the section 158BC notice was issued to the other person, and get that notice's date on the record. Where the department relies on an exclusion under sub-section (4), make it identify the clause, the start date and the end date. Several of the clauses end on receipt of a document by the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner, and the date of receipt has to be proved. Remember the two rounding provisos: after an exclusion the period is extended to sixty days if less, and then to the end of the month in which it would otherwise expire. Do not concede a date that is earlier than the statute allows, and do not assume one that is later.
Still good law. In force from 1 September 2024. No decision APPLYING the substituted section 158BE was located, and there cannot yet be many: the earliest block assessments under the revived Chapter fall due from about mid-2026. The substituted sub-section (1) is, however, independently reproduced word for word in ITAT Delhi's order in Shri Vivek Chanana L/H of Late Shri O.P. Chanana v ACIT dated 7 January 2026 — a case governed by the 1995 Chapter which sets the two texts side by side — so the wording does not rest on the departmental page alone. One of the corroborating URLs listed above is the ARCHIVED Year 2019 (No. 1) version of the section and is cited only to show what the provision used to say; it must not be used to state the present law. I did not check for any later treatment. 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.
This section was read only on the Income-tax Department's own page stamped Year 2026. A second, independent route to the text does exist and was found on a phrase search of the section's own words: ITAT Delhi's order of 7 January 2026 in Shri Vivek Chanana L/H of Late Shri O.P. Chanana v ACIT, IT(SS)A Nos.65 and 124/DEL/2005, reproduces sub-section (1) and the first proviso word for word identically to the departmental page, although the case itself arises from a search of 17 December 1999 and is governed by the 1995 Chapter. The Gazette text of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2024 still could not be fetched far enough to reach Chapter XIV-B: a fetch of the Gazette PDF returns the correct Act but truncates at its section 44, well short of section 49. To guard against a fetch error I made a second pass on the same page asking only for the single sentence of sub-section (1) and the opening of sub-section (3), verbatim; both came back word for word identical to the first pass, and the section's internal cross-reference to the 'fifth proviso to clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 158BC' matches the fifth proviso actually printed in section 158BC. The archived departmental page stamped Year 2019 (No. 1) prints the 1995 version — one year or two years from the end of the MONTH — which confirms that the quarter formulation is new. A reader relying on a date near the limit should verify the wording again before pleading it. 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. 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. A block assessment order under section 158BC must be passed within twelve months from the end of the quarter in which the last of the authorisations was executed or the requisition made, extended by twelve months for a transfer-pricing reference and to thirteen months where the return period was extended, and subject to the exclusions in sub-sections (2) and (4). In a section 158BD case the period runs from the end of the quarter in which the section 158BC notice was issued to the other person.
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