Section 151A — Faceless Assessment of Income Escaping Assessment
Case Laws & Commentary · Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026) · bharattax.co Treatise
Status: Live; inserted by the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020. Empowers the Central Government to notify a scheme for faceless conduct of the assessment, reassessment or recomputation under section 147, and the issuance of notice under section 148, and the conduct of the section 148A procedure, to impart efficiency, transparency and accountability by eliminating the interface and using team-based, jurisdiction-less working.
FA 2026: The Finance Act, 2026 enables electronic authentication of records without a digital signature in the faceless units (read with the faceless framework).
Scheme: The e-Assessment of Income Escaping Assessment Scheme, 2022 (notification dated 29 March 2022) is the operative instrument.
A. SECTION COMMENTARY
Section 151A extends the faceless philosophy to reassessment. Under it the Government has notified the scheme dated 29 March 2022, which allocates the issuance of section 148 notices and the conduct of the section 148A procedure and the reassessment to the faceless mechanism through the National Faceless Assessment Centre. The provision is enabling; its content is in the scheme.
The most consequential litigation under section 151A concerns who may issue the section 148 notice — the faceless centre or the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer. The Bombay High Court in Hexaware Technologies held that the scheme is mandatory and exclusive: a section 148 notice must be issued in a faceless manner by the National Faceless Assessment Centre, and a notice issued by the JAO is invalid; there is no concurrent jurisdiction. Several High Courts have followed this; some have taken a contrary view, and the question is of national importance and likely to reach the Supreme Court. Practitioners should track the issue closely.
B. STATUTORY POSITION (verbatim text)
Reproduced from the local Act (base text to the Finance Act, 2025).
151A. (1) The Central Government may make a scheme, by notification in the Official Gazette, for the purposes of assessment, reassessment or re-computation under section 147 or issuance of notice under section 148 or conducting of enquiries or issuance of show-cause notice or passing of order under section 148A or sanction for issue of such notice under section 151, so as to impart greater efficiency, transparency and accountability by—
(a) eliminating the interface between the income-tax authority and the assessee or any other person to the extent technologically feasible;
(b) optimising utilisation of the resources through economies of scale and functional specialisation;
(c) introducing a team-based assessment, reassessment, re-computation or issuance or sanction of notice with dynamic jurisdiction.
(2) The Central Government may, for the purpose of giving effect to the scheme made under sub-section (1), by notification in the Official Gazette, direct that any of the provisions of this Act shall not apply or shall apply with such exceptions, modifications and adaptations as may be specified in the notification:
Provided that no direction shall be issued after the 31st day of March, 2022.
(3) Every notification issued under sub-section (1) and sub-section (2) shall, as soon as may be after the notification is issued, be laid before each House of Parliament.
C. AUTHORITIES
The leading authority is Hexaware on the exclusivity of the faceless mechanism for reassessment notices.
1. Faceless issuance of section 148 notice is mandatory
Hexaware Technologies Ltd. v. ACIT (Bombay High Court) — 2024:BHC-OS:13595-DB, W.P. No. 1778 of 2023, judgment dated 3 May 2024
Court: Bombay High Court (Division Bench).
Held: Under the scheme framed under section 151A (dated 29 March 2022), there is no concurrent jurisdiction between the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer and the Faceless Assessing Officer for issuing a section 148 notice (or for passing the assessment/reassessment order); where specific jurisdiction is assigned to one, it is to the exclusion of the other. A section 148 notice issued by the JAO, otherwise than through the faceless mechanism, is invalid and bad in law, and the assessee need not demonstrate prejudice.
Significance: The leading decision holding the faceless scheme exclusive for reassessment notices; widely followed (e.g. by the Telangana and other High Courts), with some contrary authority elsewhere — a question of national importance.
Faceless-issuance line — following High Courts
Position: Several High Courts have followed Hexaware to quash JAO-issued section 148 notices as contrary to the section 151A scheme (the Telangana High Court in the Kankanala Ravindra Reddy line; the Punjab & Haryana High Court observing that the object of faceless assessment is defeated if the JAO issues the show-cause/section 148 notice). A minority of decisions take a contrary view, treating the JAO and faceless centre as having concurrent competence.
Candour note: The issue is unsettled across High Courts and is expected to be authoritatively resolved by the Supreme Court; the position is stated even-handedly. The operative instrument is the scheme dated 29 March 2022.
Compiled for the bharattax.co Treatise on the Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026). Statutory text reproduced from the Income-tax Act, 1961 (text as printed in the local Act, base text amended up to the Finance Act, 2025), with the publisher's footnote apparatus and amendment-marker brackets removed; Finance Act, 2026 changes are flagged in the commentary. Citations are stated as reported; orders of the Tribunal, Authority for Advance Rulings and High Courts are flagged as such. Where a section has not been judicially construed, that is stated candidly and the nearest governing authority is given. This material is for professional reference and is not legal advice.
CHAPTER XIV — PROCEDURE FOR ASSESSMENT
Section 151A — Faceless Assessment of Income Escaping Assessment
Case Laws & Commentary · Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026) · bharattax.co Treatise
Status: Live; inserted by the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020. Empowers the Central Government to notify a scheme for faceless conduct of the assessment, reassessment or recomputation under section 147, and the issuance of notice under section 148, and the conduct of the section 148A procedure, to impart efficiency, transparency and accountability by eliminating the interface and using team-based, jurisdiction-less working.
FA 2026: The Finance Act, 2026 enables electronic authentication of records without a digital signature in the faceless units (read with the faceless framework).
Scheme: The e-Assessment of Income Escaping Assessment Scheme, 2022 (notification dated 29 March 2022) is the operative instrument.
A. SECTION COMMENTARY
Section 151A extends the faceless philosophy to reassessment. Under it the Government has notified the scheme dated 29 March 2022, which allocates the issuance of section 148 notices and the conduct of the section 148A procedure and the reassessment to the faceless mechanism through the National Faceless Assessment Centre. The provision is enabling; its content is in the scheme.
The most consequential litigation under section 151A concerns who may issue the section 148 notice — the faceless centre or the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer. The Bombay High Court in Hexaware Technologies held that the scheme is mandatory and exclusive: a section 148 notice must be issued in a faceless manner by the National Faceless Assessment Centre, and a notice issued by the JAO is invalid; there is no concurrent jurisdiction. Several High Courts have followed this; some have taken a contrary view, and the question is of national importance and likely to reach the Supreme Court. Practitioners should track the issue closely.
B. STATUTORY POSITION (verbatim text)
Reproduced from the local Act (base text to the Finance Act, 2025).
151A. (1) The Central Government may make a scheme, by notification in the Official Gazette, for the purposes of assessment, reassessment or re-computation under section 147 or issuance of notice under section 148 or conducting of enquiries or issuance of show-cause notice or passing of order under section 148A or sanction for issue of such notice under section 151, so as to impart greater efficiency, transparency and accountability by—
(a) eliminating the interface between the income-tax authority and the assessee or any other person to the extent technologically feasible;
(b) optimising utilisation of the resources through economies of scale and functional specialisation;
(c) introducing a team-based assessment, reassessment, re-computation or issuance or sanction of notice with dynamic jurisdiction.
(2) The Central Government may, for the purpose of giving effect to the scheme made under sub-section (1), by notification in the Official Gazette, direct that any of the provisions of this Act shall not apply or shall apply with such exceptions, modifications and adaptations as may be specified in the notification:
Provided that no direction shall be issued after the 31st day of March, 2022.
(3) Every notification issued under sub-section (1) and sub-section (2) shall, as soon as may be after the notification is issued, be laid before each House of Parliament.
C. AUTHORITIES
The leading authority is Hexaware on the exclusivity of the faceless mechanism for reassessment notices.
1. Faceless issuance of section 148 notice is mandatory
Hexaware Technologies Ltd. v. ACIT (Bombay High Court) — 2024:BHC-OS:13595-DB, W.P. No. 1778 of 2023, judgment dated 3 May 2024
Court: Bombay High Court (Division Bench).
Held: Under the scheme framed under section 151A (dated 29 March 2022), there is no concurrent jurisdiction between the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer and the Faceless Assessing Officer for issuing a section 148 notice (or for passing the assessment/reassessment order); where specific jurisdiction is assigned to one, it is to the exclusion of the other. A section 148 notice issued by the JAO, otherwise than through the faceless mechanism, is invalid and bad in law, and the assessee need not demonstrate prejudice.
Significance: The leading decision holding the faceless scheme exclusive for reassessment notices; widely followed (e.g. by the Telangana and other High Courts), with some contrary authority elsewhere — a question of national importance.
Faceless-issuance line — following High Courts
Position: Several High Courts have followed Hexaware to quash JAO-issued section 148 notices as contrary to the section 151A scheme (the Telangana High Court in the Kankanala Ravindra Reddy line; the Punjab & Haryana High Court observing that the object of faceless assessment is defeated if the JAO issues the show-cause/section 148 notice). A minority of decisions take a contrary view, treating the JAO and faceless centre as having concurrent competence.
Candour note: The issue is unsettled across High Courts and is expected to be authoritatively resolved by the Supreme Court; the position is stated even-handedly. The operative instrument is the scheme dated 29 March 2022.
Compiled for the bharattax.co Treatise on the Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026). Statutory text reproduced from the Income-tax Act, 1961 (text as printed in the local Act, base text amended up to the Finance Act, 2025), with the publisher's footnote apparatus and amendment-marker brackets removed; Finance Act, 2026 changes are flagged in the commentary. Citations are stated as reported; orders of the Tribunal, Authority for Advance Rulings and High Courts are flagged as such. Where a section has not been judicially construed, that is stated candidly and the nearest governing authority is given. This material is for professional reference and is not legal advice.