When you shift your permanent address or residential address from one state to another, it is necessary to get your PAN migrated to the new AO

While dismissing the petition, the Patna High Court ruled that the address change must be informed to the existing Jurisdictional Assessing Officer ( JAO ) through an application and to the new AO for proper PAN migration. The bench, comprising Chief Justice K. Vinod Chandran and Justice Partha Sarthy, referred to the Department’s FAQ section. It noted that when changing your address from one state to another, it is crucial to migrate your PAN to the new Assessing Officer (AO). Get a Copy of Income tax Rules, Click here While the Income Tax Department provides extensive online services, there may be occasions where direct contact with your AO is needed. Thus, migrating your PAN to the appropriate jurisdictional AO ensures smoother communication. The primary question raised in the petition was “Whether a change in address in the PAN Card would automatically result in a change in the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer (JAO), is the question raised herein, which has to be considered based on the Faceless Assessment (FA) Scheme, in vogue.” Mr. Niraj Kumar Suman, the petitioner-assessee, initially conducted business in Muzaffarpur, Bihar, and was assigned the Income Tax Officer Ward-1(1), Muzaffarpur, Bihar as his JAO. In 2017, he shifted his business to Delhi and updated his PAN address to reflect this change. He produced a communication downloaded from the website confirming this address change. Get a Copy of Income tax Rules, Click here Despite requesting the transfer of his JAO to New Delhi, the petitioner received notices under Section 143(2) and Section 148A of the Income Tax Act at his New Delhi address. The petitioner argued that the Income Tax Officer issuing these notices did not have the jurisdiction to assess him, as he believed the jurisdiction had not been properly updated. The Department’s counter affidavit clarified that the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer (JAO) had not been transferred despite the change of address. The petitioner’s returns were filed with the JAO in Muzaffarpur, and online returns indicated the JAO, signalling the need to apply for a jurisdictional change under Section 127 of the Act. Get a Copy of Income tax Rules, Click here The petitioner cited a Madras High Court case, Abdul Azeez Haroon vs. Deputy Commissioner of Income-tax, where jurisdictional issues were discussed. In that case, an NRI’s JAO was found to be incorrectly assigned, but the assessment proceeded despite the jurisdictional conflict. The bench compared this case with Prashant Chandra v. CIT, where jurisdiction was found lacking when an assessee had moved their principal place of business and requested a change in JAO. Similarly, in Abdul Azeez Haroon, the jurisdiction issue was contested based on NRI status, yet the assessment continued with the original JAO despite requests for transfer. The court referenced the FAQs is extracted here: “4. I have moved to a different city/state, do I need to change my AO? Yes. When you shift your permanent address or residential address from one state to another, it is necessary to get your PAN migrated to the new AO. Although the Income Tax Department endeavours to provide taxpayers with all necessary services online, on rare occasions you may need to contact your AO. Thus, it is in your interest to get your PAN migrated to the proper jurisdictional AO, so you can easily reach him/her when the need arises. 6. What should I do to migrate my PAN to a new AO? You need to file an application for migrating your PAN to your current jurisdictional AO. The process involves: 1. Write an application to your current AO stating the reason for change as address change.  2. Write an application to the new AO, requesting him/her to apply to the existing AO for the change. 3. The current AO has to accept this application. 4. Once approved, the application is forwarded to the Income Tax Commissioner. 5. After approval from the Commissioner, the AO is changed. You are required to make a written request to your existing AO for migrating your PAN to the new AO based on your new address.” Get a Copy of Income tax Rules, Click here The court found that while the JAO is responsible for addressing jurisdictional changes if raised by the assessee and there was no evidence that the petitioner followed up on the request for a jurisdiction change before the JAO. There was no proof that the petitioner had filed an objection or requested a jurisdictional change under Section 127 of income tax act. The petitioner’s online returns showed the JAO as Muzaffarpur, and the change of address only facilitated notice delivery. Since the assessment would proceed facelessly, there was no prejudice to the petitioner, said the bench. Get a Copy of Income tax Rules, Click here Finally, the high court found no reason to interfere with the Section 148 notice and noted that the petitioner had not applied to a New Delhi AO for jurisdiction change. Thus, the writ petition was dismissed leaving liberty to apply for such change of jurisdiction.