Section 153(5)

Case law › Section 153(5)

The Income-tax Act, 1961 was repealed on 1 April 2026. It still governs income earned up to 31 March 2026, and every proceeding about those years however late — assessment, reassessment, rectification, penalty, revision and appeal alike. Income earned from 1 April 2026 is governed by the Income-tax Act, 2025. What changed, and which Act governs your year →

Section 153(5) — the law in short

What the courts have decided on section 153(5), in one screen. Read this first; open an entry when you need the facts, the reasoning and the source.

Honeywell Technology Solutions Lab P Ltd v DCIT High CourtHelps taxpayerNo later treatment found
The Tribunal decided my appeal years ago and the Assessing Officer still has not passed the order giving effect. What do I get besides the refund?

You get the refund on the footing that your returned income has become final, plus additional interest under s.244A(1A) at three per cent per annum. The Karnataka High Court held that where the order giving effect is not passed within the three months allowed by s.153(5), the Assessing Officer becomes functus officio, the returned income stands, any tax collected above the tax on the returned income must be refunded, and the additional interest runs from the expiry of the s.153(5) period to the date the refund is granted.

Listed strongest first: Supreme Court, then High Court, then Tribunal, then CBDT. Nothing here has yet been read in full by a chartered accountant — open an entry to see where it came from.

Section 153(5) — 1 entry

Honeywell Technology Solutions Lab P Ltd v DCIT

The Tribunal decided my appeal years ago and the Assessing Officer still has not passed the order giving effect. What do I get besides the refund?

High CourtHelps taxpayerNo later treatment founds.244As.244A(1A)s.153(5)s.254

Worked examples

Notice situations in which section 153(5) does the work, taken from the first line to the last. Each step carries the authority that licenses it.

A refund determined thirty-four months after the return, with interest under s.244A run from the wrong date and part of it taken against another year My refund came three years late, the interest under s.244A was computed from a date that appears nowhere in the section, and part of the money was set off against a demand under appeal - how do I get the rest? 8 steps · 27 authorities · s.244A, s.244A(1)(a), s.244A(1)(aa), s.244A(1A)

Explained in this library

What section 153(5) does, in plain English, before you read what the courts made of it.

s.254(2): the miscellaneous application to the Tribunal

The Tribunal has decided my appeal and the order has a mistake in it — it overlooked a judgment we had filed, and one figure is simply wrong. Can I get that fixed without going to the High Court, and how long have I got?

When the matter goes back: the Tribunal's power to remand, and the clock that then starts

The Tribunal has restored my case to the Assessing Officer. What is the officer allowed to do now, and how long does he have?