Step 2 home Pvt. Ltd. filed its return of income under section 139(1) on 15th September, 2024 for A.Y. 2024-25. The return was found to be…

The issue under consideration is whether, for the purpose of computing limitation period under section 143(2), the relevant date is the date of filing of the original return of income or the date of removal of defects in response to a notice issued under section 139(9). The same issue came up before Supreme Court in DCIT vs Travel Designer India Pvt. Ltd. vs (2025) 482 ITR 283. In this case, the High Court noted that since the return was defective, the assessee was called upon to remove such defects, which was removed on 19th May, 2025, which is within the time allowed by the Assessing Officer. Therefore, upon such defects being removed, the return would relate back to the date of filing original return i.e., 15th September, 2024. Consequently, the limitation for issuance of notice under section 143(2) would be 30th June, 2025 i.e., three months from the end of the financial year in which the return under section 139(1) was filed. In the present case, notice under section 143(2) has been issued on 21st June, 2026, which is much beyond the period of limitation. Therefore, such notice is barred by limitation and cannot be sustained. Accordingly, the notice issued under section 143(2) is not a valid notice.