Notice served on old address couldn't be quashed if assessee didn't intimate the new address to dept.

Facts

a)    The case of the assessee was selected for scrutiny and, accordingly, notice under section 143(2) was issued upon him. The notice was generated through the software application of the Income-tax Department and was sent to the assessee at the address given in the return of income.

b)    Assessee filed an affidavit stating that said notice was not served. However, in affidavit, assessee had not furnished any reasons or evidences as to why notice sent at correct address could not be served on assessee.

c)    It was noticed that address of assessee in affidavit was different from address provided in return of income, which showed that assessee had changed his address and new address was not communicated to Income-tax Department.

Issue

Whether notice served on old address could be quashed where assessee didn’t communicate the correct address or change in address to the Income-tax department?

The tribunal held in favour of revenue as under-

1)    One of the important facts which was noticed in the instant case was that the new address of the assessee in the affidavit was different from the address provided in the return of income, which went to show that the assessee had changed his address and the new address was not communicated to the Income-tax Department.

2)    The onus to communicate the correct address or change of address to the Department either applying through prescribed form for making correction in permanent account number (PAN) database or communication to the Assessing Officer was on the assessee, which the assessee failed to do.

3)    Therefore, notice served on old address could not be quashed as assessee himself had not reported the new address to the income-tax department- [2016] 67 taxmann.com 109 (Delhi - Trib.)